I Spy
by Shazza-Girl
Summary: It’s a new year at the Gallagher Academy.And the girls are in for a big surprise.Are the C of C coming back for Cammie?Does Zach know them?Should Cammie trust him? Full Summ inside. Disclaimer: I don't own Gallagher girls, just this plot line & any xtras.
1. I Spy

**Prologue**

It's a new year at the Gallagher Academy.

And the girls are in for a big surprise.

An old friend of the family comes back.

As well as a few…not so old friends.

And someone new is coming into the picture.

Or is everyone just looking at the wrong picture.

Who are the CoC?

Why do they want Cammie?

Does Zach know them?

Should Cammie trust him?

Or should she be a good spy and do as her aunt told her?

To stay away from him.

Or will she be a teenage girl and listen to her heart?

Problem is, which one will get her killed in the end?

**A/N Okay this was probably really confusing and that whole picture thing probably confused you all to no end but you will come to understand what it means eventually. I'll probably end up dropping hints through out the story anyway. So Yeh, please review. The next chapter will be better and more interesting than this one, also a whole lot less confusing.**

**Shadow Wolfe**


	2. A Reunion

**Alright this is my first Gallagher Girl fanfic so please go easy on me. Its juinor year for our favourite girls and the summer has just ended (obviously). This would be set after the second book so during the third but it's gonna be different from the third so yeah. I'm sorry if the first chapter is really clichéd and boring and such but it will be better after everyone has arrived and stuff. So yeah lets get on with it shall we.**

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Cammie POV_

I'm going to assume that if you're reading this then you have at least a level four clearance. If not then put this file back down from where ever you got it and go have some tea. You know the kind I'm talking about. Oh and if you don't remember what you were doing before you had said tea, don't worry, it was nothing important. Now if you do have a level four clearance please read on.

I'd been back at the Academy for two weeks now and am now watching from my dorm room window as limos drove through the gates of The Gallagher Academy, returning my sisters to their home for the next semester until they went home for two weeks before coming back again for the rest of the school year.

The limos were merely a cover. A way to keep the towns people of Roseville from suspecting that this wasn't just a boarding school for rich and snobby girls. Trust me it's a lot less conspicuous then arriving by helicopter in the middle of the day. I watched as one by one the limos drove up the steps of the school dropping off both the student they carried and the luggage. And before you get thinking that these were really cool spy limos, I'm gonna stop that train of thought before it even leaves the station.

The limos were normal, driver and all. Driver pulls limo up to steps. Gets out, opens door for student if they haven't opened it for themselves already, then go to the trunk, remove luggage, deposit luggage on steps with student. As I watched the routine over and over I saw a figure in the doorway from the corner of my eye.

I turned to look at them and saw it was my Aunt Abby. "Hey squirt." She said smiling with her arms open for a hug. I leaped up from the window seat and ran into her arms, hugging her tightly. "Aunt Abby what are you doing here?" I asked stepping back. "Well I'm going to be helping Mr Soloman with your CoveOps class." I beamed up at her. This was going to be awesome. I was about to ask her how long she was going to be here when we heard a crash and a voice I could never forget. "Oopsy daisy."

"LIZ!" I ran past Abby, and out the door to see Liz standing over a suitcase, attempting to pick it up while trying to keep up right while holding three other suitcases; one under each arm and the third in her other hand. "Liz stop right there. Let me help you." I said rushing to her side and taking the suitcase from under her left arm and picking up the case on the ground, leaving her with the one in her left hand and under her right arm.

" Thanks Cam," We hauled the bags down the hall to our room where we dumped them on her bed so she could unpack later. "Hey, Liz," Abby said from the corner. Liz spun around and stared in shock. "Abby!" A very girly squeal came from the last person I would've expected. We all turned – Liz breaking out of her shock – to see Bex in the doorway, her bags at her sides.

"Bexter!" Abby squealed back. As she wrapped Bex in a hug I saw a twinkle of mockery in her eyes and couldn't help but laugh. Abby finally let go and went and hugged Liz.

_**(Okay please forgive me but I just want to skip this scene. All the girls are now at school. Macey has been introduced to Abby and the girls are now at the Welcome Back Dinner. Only Cammie knows why Abby is there. I was going to finish the welcoming scene but I just couldn't. It would've been way too boring.)**_

Everyone was now seated for dinner and were waiting for mum to go to the podium and begin her welcome back speech.

"Women of Gallagher, who comes here?"  
"We are the sisters of Gillian."  
"Why do you come?"  
"To learn her skills. Honour her sword. And keep her secrets."  
"To what end do you work?"  
"To the cause of justice and light."  
"How long will you strive?"  
"For all the days of our lives." As everyone took their seats again I couldn't help but feel like a character on a soap opera. Mum remained at the podium and I knew there was more to her speech then just the Gallagher pledge and her normal welcome.

"Welcome to all new students here at the academy. I predict that this will be an… interesting year all around for students and teachers alike. I'd like to introduce a new teacher to our staff. She will be helping with Mr Solomen's junior Covert Operations class. Please make Ms Cameron feel welcome her at Gallagher." Everyone clapped and Aunt Abby walked up to the podium and smiled at all of us, her eyes lingering on me for 3.25 seconds. I smiled at her and she winked at me. My friends didn't miss this.

"Thank you all for the warm welcome. I too was once a Gallagher Girl and it has taught me so many things that I wouldn't have learnt anywhere else. I have colleagues at the CIA who – no matter how good they are – don't know half of what I was taught here. The skills you learn while her at Gallagher will keep you alive and help you in every aspect of you life, it's certainly helped in mine. I'd also like to say to the girls who I will be teaching in CoveOps, this is going to be a year you will never forget." She said with a final wink at me before going back to her seat at the head table.

I didn't miss that she was sitting between Mr Soloman and my mum, who's chair was empty due to her still being at the podium. I also didn't miss how her right hand slid under the table, with Mr Soloman's left following not a second later.

I could feel my friends bursting with curiosity, over whether or not I knew about this (and I was glad that for once I could say yes) but I couldn't help but catch Aunt Abby and Mr Soloman's eyes and raise an eyebrow while flicking my eyes to the table top which hid what I assumed to be their clasped hands.

Abby smirked before shooting me a look which said that she'd explain later. I shot a look back that said you'd better. Her smirk grew to a smile and I rolled my eyes with a smile on my own face before turning back to my friends. "Did you know that Abby was going to be teaching?" Bex asked me excitedly. Abby was one of her favourite people. "Maybe," I answered, a sly look and a small smirk on my face. Bex was about to question me more but the waiters had started to place to food on the table in front of us and Bex's attention went from me to the delicious food in front of us. She never could resist a good meal. With her fork half way to her mouth she stopped and looked at me, "This isn't over." Then went back to her food hungrily.

I chuckled under my breath as I started on my own meal. As I grabbed my napkin a piece of paper fell out and onto the floor. With out hesitation I dropped my napkin and bent down to pick it up along with the note. Setting them both in my lap I used my right hand to eat while my left hand unfolded the paper.

I looked down at it while everyone was distracted with their meals.

_**Chameleon**_

_**Go to the head mistresses office after you're done with dinner. Make sure you're not followed.**_

_**Cameron**_

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A/N: Sooo, did you like it? Be honest. Criticism is welcome . Oh and really important; I seriously need your assistance in this. The girls are going on a mission and I need code names for like half of them such as Abby, Tina, Courtney Baur, Mick morrison, Kim Lee, Anna Fetterman and Also for Zach, Grant, Jonas (and if anyone knows his last name that would be awesome even if you don't and just have a suggestion). Also there are five spots left for Gallagher girls. See I wanted there to be fifteen girls on the mission but I only have ten so far so If you'd like to be one of those five girls then in a review just tell me what you want your name to be (actual name example; Cammie morgan, liz Sutton, bex Baxter. As well as a codename) and if those five spots are already filled then the others can be used on another mission. Sound fair? So yeh, please give me any suggestions for code names for those five girls and three boys (and if you want any custom blackthorne boys, guys YOU want to be blackthorne's then those are welcome too). **

**Thanks so much for your participation in this.**

**Shadow Wolfe**


	3. A Mission

**Thank you all for your reviews and help with code names. **

I walked down the hallway making sure no one was following me before I pushed a loose stone on the wall that would lead me down a secret passage way to my mother's office. I'd used this passage so many times I instinctively reached for the stone when ever I came near here, didn't even have to count anymore. **(AN: counting stones in the wall, like three from the left, up two, right four, down five. That kinda thing."**

The wall closed behind me as I entered, and I didn't bother feeling my way along the wall. Thirteen steps forward, turn right, eight steps forward, turn left, twelve more steps then push a stone eight from the top, four from the left of the wall right in front of me. There was a small peep hole drilled into one of the stones with a cover over it s that you could only tell it was there from inside the passage. I checked the hall outside the passage before pressing the stone, effectively opening the wall.

I exited the passage, not breaking stride to wait for the passage to close behind me. I could see it closing in the reflective surface of one of the suits of armour that lined some of the halls of the castle. I stopped at my mother's door, and knocked quickly, not bothering to wait for an answer, before opening the door and entering.

Mum was sitting behind her desk. Mr Soloman and Aunt Abby were seated on the couch whispering t each other. They all looked up when the door closed. "You asked for me." I stated before any of them could say anything. "Yes, of course. I wasn't sure if you got the note or not." Of course I got the note. It was in my napkin.

"Now what was so urgent that no one could know where I was going and you had to tell me via note-in-the-napkin?"  
"Was she always this sarcastic?" Aunt Abby whispered to Soloman. I rolled my eyes. Ever since I got the note I'd had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that what ever I was told during this meeting would change my life forever. And in an effort to hide my uneasiness, I become sarcastic. A trait I must have gotten from my dad.

Mum smiled at me with this glint of something in her eye. Like I had reminded her of something, something good, maybe? "Cammie, maybe you should sit down." I looked at her warily before taking seat in one of the comfy cushioned chairs in front of her desk. "Alright, what's this all about. You only tell me that I should sit down if it's something serious." Has something happened? Is there going to be an attack on the school? Have there been threats? Deaths? Kidnappings? I _hate_ being out of the loop.

"Honey, relax, nothing like what you're thinking," How did she-? "I'm your mother, and you father always had the same look on his face whenever I told him he should sit down." She smiled at me again the same glint as before in her eyes. She sat on the edge of the desk, facing me and took a deep breath before talking. "When you were born, your father and I asked two people very close to us to be your godparents. One of them was my sister, your Aunt Abby. The other was a very good friend of your father's. They went to Blackthorne together when they were your age and they were partners before your father and I got married and I became pregnant with you. You see your dad and I knew who we wanted to take care of you if something ever happened to us but if they remained partners then there was a higher chance of something happening to the both of them, so they split." She paused to take a breath and I jumped in. "So you're saying that Aunt Abby is my godmother, and that I also have a godfather wandering around somewhere? Who is this guy?"

Her eyes flicked to some thing or most likely some_one_ behind me. "Cammie, I just need you too know that your father was my best friend as well as Brian, who's son you've met. I'm sorry that we didn't tell you sooner but we thought it would be better to wait till you were older." This time it wasn't my mum talking. It was Mr Soloman. I jumped up from my seat and turned and stared at him my mouth opened in a confused 'O'.

Then like a jig saw puzzle, the pieces started to fall into place. Soloman and my dad went to Blackthorne…together. They were best friends along with some guy named Brian but we'll come back to that. When he said "we" he included him self in that statement. _Obviously._ Gosh even my minds remarks to my self are sarcastic. _Now that was a completely normal sentence._ No, this can't be happening. My CoveOps teacher can NOT be my god father. It's not possible. _And to think that you once thought he was hot._ And I could imagine that little voice in my head shaking it's head. You know if it had one.

_Alright you have got to stop having this weird monologue thing in your head because everyone is waiting for you reaction and you're kind of freaking them out with how you're acting at the moment. But think about it for a second, would it really be that bad? He's a cool guy, and would make an awesome god father._ I decided to listen to the strange voice in my head that reminded me of my dad.

I focused on the happenings outside of my head again. Mum was in front of me, her hands on my shoulder. "Cammie, can you hear me? Cammie, say something. Sweetie?" I looked from her then to Abby who was on her left then to Soloman who was on her right. "So, does this mean I can call you Uncle Joe now?" I asked with a smirk on my face. They all looked taken aback.

Joe – calling him Joe, even Uncle Joe could take some getting used to – was the first to recover from his shock. He smiled at me, like I'd just made his day or something. "Sure Cam, anything you want." I nodded, my lips pursed. "You shouldn't have said that. Now I have free reign to call you anything I want…anytime I want." I grinned. His eyes flashed with fear but it was gone as fast as it came. "Now, now Cammie, be nice to your Uncle Joey." Abby scolded from were she now stood beside UJ **(Uncle Joe for those of you didn't quite pick up on that)**, it would've been more effective if she didn't have a grin on her face, the size of Uluru **(this is a giant rock in the middle of Australia for those of you who didn't know)**.

UJ glared at Abby for his new nickname and I couldn't help but giggle at the sight of them. They looked so cute together. Wait a sec…did I just think that my Aunt Abby and Joe Soloman looked cute together. My Aunt and my CoveOps teacher. My godmother and godfather. Okay using that last phrase doesn't make it sound quite as weird. "Alright Aunty Dearest, I do believe we need to talk, don't you think." I asked raising an eyebrow with a smirk on my face. If I knew my aunt like I did then I also knew that she hadn't told mum about her and Soloman, and if she hadn't told mum, then there must be a reason for it. Can we say _Blackmail_.

He looked nervous, can't imagine why. "Right, we do, um why don't we go talk out in the hall?" She turned quickly and left the room, throwing a look to UJ which I doubt my mum missed. Before I could move to follow her mum grabbed my arm pulling me back. "I have an idea of what you two are going to talk about and I'd wanted to tell you, I already know." She explained, a grin on her face. Oh, she knew me so well. I smiled at her and followed Abby out into the hall.

"Alright, now spill. What exactly is going on between you and Uncle Jay?"  
"Now Cam, I know that you're probably still a little bit shocked by how things have unfolded in the past half hour but please just know that I wouldn't do something that I knew would hurt you. And I also need you to know that I really do care for him. I've never met a man like him before." Was this happening? Was my aunt Abby, confessing her feelings for my CoveOps teacher? "Alright but I have to know a few things; When did this all start? What's the real reason you're here? And how much is this information worth to you? Because I'm pretty sure that if mum new what was going on between you, her dearest sister, and UJ, her husbands best friend and my resident godfather, then we wouldn't be having this conversation out here. I'm also pretty sure that Uncle Jay wouldn't be trying to distract mum while you make me swear not to tell her, am I right?"

She looked shocked for a moment, something a spy should never do – be shocked by something you've been told – but recovered quickly. I seem to be shocking people a lot today. "Look Cam, please, Rachael doesn't know about Joe and me yet, and I really want to keep it that way, at least for a little while. If she finds out now then she'll think that it's just a childish crush, but if she finds out a couple months down the line and we're still going strong, then she'll realise that it's not just some school girl crush, and she won't lecture me about how badly things could go and how awkward it would be for everyone involved if things ended badly. So please, please don't tell your mum." She was rambling, and maybe if I let her ramble long enough she's say the words that promised me A LOT of information.

"What will it take for you to NOT tell your mum?" Aaah the magical words I'd been waiting for. I wasn't like Aunt Abby to beg, especially me. So I'm going to take advantage of her lapse in sanity. "Well, now that you mention it. There is something," I said, my words coated with innocence, a finger on my chin and a smile on my lips. "First of all can you answer my previous questions? When did all of this with Soloman start?"

She seemed to consider the question for a moment, "I'll tell you, but maybe we should go somewhere a little bit quieter." I nodded, and she grabbed my hand leading down the hallway, when we got to the end she pulled back a tapestry that hung on the wall, one that I knew about, it led to a few more passage ways but what surprised me was that she led me down a passage way that I didn't know about. "I know that you're shocked Cam, how didn't you know about this passageway. Don't worry, you still know every passageway that is within these halls, save for a few that you haven't yet discovered, and I'm sure that you would've found out about this one in no time at all." Then she pushed a sequence of stones in the wall which I quickly memorised.

When the wall opened up, had I been talking, I would've been stunned into silence. The wall had opened up to reveal the most amazing room I'd ever seen, two of the four walls were lined with books and on another wall was a large bay window which I'd never seen from the outside. Against the remaining wall hung a 72inch flat screen TV, in front of it was a red three seater couch and to the left and right of it were two red arm chairs which looked big enough to fit two people in each. Abby pulled me to sit on the couch, we were sitting Indian style leaning against the arm rests, this way were able to actually look at each other when we talk but also be able to see if someone came in through the passageway.

She sighed and fiddled with her hands which lay in her lap. It reminded me that she too was once a somewhat self-conscious teenage girl and even though she was in her mid thirties (yet didn't look a day over 22) she now looked like a teenager again. She took a deep breath and began her story;

"No questions till I'm done, okay?" She waited for me to nod my agreement and the she began "Back in high school, my high school days that is. Back when your mother and I were in high school, there was an exchange, much like the one last year. That was when your mum met you dad, when Zach's mum met his dad, when I met Joe." She had this dreamy look on her face. As if she was remembering a better day. "We were the best of friends, we were roommates." The smile on her face grew, and I knew that she was now talking about her, mum and Zach's mum. "Then, _they_ came. The Blackthorne boys. They walked in through the grand hall doors like they owned the place. Leading them was Chris, Brian and Joe. They were the hottest of the hot."

It was weird hearing my dad and teacher described as hot by my aunt. Even though I had called Soloman hot when he first came to our school, it was still weird. "Of course we were assigned to be their guides. They were arrogant, egotistic, and drove us all nuts. Brian with his smirk, Chris with his ability to disappear and reappear at will and Joe, he was just Joe. We trained together, explored the castle together, when there were town days we would always go together. In short I fell for him…hard, quite literally too. I won't go into that story quite yet but lets just say that I ended up with a broken arm.

"Then when the exchange ended and it was time to say goodbye, I kissed him in the hall. It was a planned attack. Your mum, Zach's and I had all planned to ambush them before they left and kiss them. They seemed to have the same idea because before your mum or Zach's could kiss their guys, their guys kissed them. Joe told me what their plan had been and I told him ours had been the same, and then I kissed him. When they left we found any way we could to keep in contact with them. We didn't have email or text messaging back then so it was harder but we found other way. That tower your so fond of hiding in, that was where we kept the messaging pigeons. That was our way, and it worked. We waited for them to come back every year but they never did. It was a week until graduation and we decided that we were going to find out where their school was. And guess what, it was two hours away from here. Two hours! We were so angry that they never even tried to sneak in that we just turned around and left. When they send the pigeons we didn't even read the messages we just sent them back, unopened. Then graduation came and there they sat. The three of them were in the front row next to our parents and they looked…happy, regretful, and even a little scared." She started laughing then and I couldn't help but join her. They had good reason to be scared too. Pissing off Gallagher Girl is bad enough, but pissing off three Gallagher Girls is like signing your own death warrant.

"Well after the ceremony ended and everyone was being congratulated by their parents and friends and as we reach ours there they were. _Hiding_ behind our fathers. It may have been because we were glaring at them so hard that if we'd had Prof. Fibs _Looks can Kill_ contacts then they would've been pushing up daisies, but it was still such a sight that we couldn't help but laugh at them. Our parents left us to talk and the boys were about ready to run after them but knew that it would damage their pride and we'd catch up with them anyway and just make it all the more painful. Long story short, we questioned them, and after much begging on their part we told them they were forgiven and everything went back to how it should've been the entire time. We were all together, we were happy. That's the end."

I was having difficulty getting my head around the fact that the Blackthorne Institute for Boys was ONLY TWO HOURS AWAY but when she said that that was the end of the story a thousand questions popped into my mind, joining the other hundreds that were already flying around in there. "Wait that can't be the end. It's been at least sixteen years since you guys graduated, why aren't you and Soloman married yet? That just can not be the end of the story." She laughed at me and nodded, "You're right about a few things. No that wasn't the end of the story but it's all I'm going to tell. For now," She added when she aw my shocked face. "It's been nearly twenty hears since your mum and I've been at school," Shocking I know, neither mum nor Aunt Abby looked anywhere close to their thirties, middle twenties maybe, middle to late thirties? Not a chance. "And the reason why Joe and I aren't married yet is because…I'll tell you another time okay kiddo, it's getting late and I'm sure your friends are wondering where you've been this whole time."

I couldn't help but agree with her on that last point. As soon I stepped foot into the Junior's common room they'd know, and so would every other Junior. But there was still a piece of information that I needed before I could leave this library somewhat satisfied. And Abby must've known this too, maybe it was the devious smirk on my face or the mischievous glint in my eyes everyone tells me I get. "Hey Abby, there's one more thing that I needed to ask you before I go back to my room." She eyed me warily, "What?" She asked drawing out the 'a' longer then completely necessary. "Well I'm curious as too what we're doing in Cove Ops. I mean I know you're not really here to help out with Cove Ops but I want to find that out on my own, otherwise my spy skills might get rusty, but really what are we doing in Cove Ops?"

Abby started to stand and walk to the passageway entrance, I jumped over the back off the couch and ran past her so I was standing in front of the book shelf and effectively blocking her exit. "Come on Abs, you know you want to tell me." She rolled her eyes at me, "You do know that I could knock you out in ten seconds flat?"  
"You could try but, you see I've been practising quite a bit over the summer, the barn at your parent's house is a great place to set up a training room."  
"Yeah, I know. Your mum and I used to train in there all the time."  
"Good to know, now are you going to tell me?"  
"Yeah, I suppose, what harm could it do for you to know." There was a pregnant pause before I finally spoke up. "Well…are you going to tell me, or not?"  
"I can't tell you everything but I will tell you this," then she leaned forward and whispered in my ear, "You girls are finally going to get that rematch you've been waiting for." I was too shocked to move. Abby reached around me and pulled a sequence of books from the selves, making the bookcase behind me slide away. She started walking down the dark passage, stopping a few meters from the turn, and turned her head to look at me. "You coming or not, kiddo?" I nodded dumbly and followed her to the hallway.

Abby hugged me goodnight and started to walk back to mum's office. Then as I was about to turn and go back to my own room she turned around, "Oh Cam, one last thing, you're going to be leading this one. I'll email you the details before breakfast tomorrow. Have a good night." I couldn't help the excitement that ran through me. I was going to lead a mission. We were going to get revenge. Which means that I'm going to be leading a mission which involves revenge against the boys.

I ran up to my room, taking the steps two at a time, and ignoring all the strange looks that I seemed to be getting from girls walking by. Bursting through my bedroom door I was met with my three best friends shouting my name and all asking different variations of the same question. "Guys! Chill!"** (I don't know who else does this but I call all my friends "guys" when addressing them as a group, even the girls)** "Cammie, what happened? You've been gone for hours. You left right after dinner at seven and it's nearly ten. We were going to start the back-at-school movie marathon without you." I couldn't help but laugh at Bex, the back-at-school movie marathon was something we started freshman year; after a break, whether it be winter, summer or spring break, or even just one of us having an absence from school for more then twenty four hours we would have a movie marathon. This usually resulted in us being extremely tired the next morning and having to be dragged from bed with threats of detention.

"Bex, chill out, I'll tell you what happened but you may want to popcorn cause this is one hell-ova story." Then when we were all comfortable I told them of what happened when I got to my mums office, how Joe Soloman was my godfather, laughing at how he'd given me permission to call him nearly anything I wanted, then I told them of the talk I had with Aunt Abby, just skimming over the details and only telling them the highlights, then I got to the part about our Cove Ops mission. I swear you would've been able to hear they're squealing all the way from Australia, and that's on the other side of the world. Their squealing when I told them that I was leading the mission however could've been heard by the mole people deep, deep, down under Australia. That's how loud. I explained the Abby would be sending me the details before breakfast and we decided to start our marathon before it got too late. We went through The Bourne trilogy and watched Mr and Mrs Smith before finally shutting off the TV and going to sleep somewhere around

**A/N: I'm not sure if I explained Gillian's private library very well. I'm gonna go ahead and paint you guys a picture. Imagine you walk into a room. A room, all stone walls, (like you'd expect from a castle/mansion that was built in the eighteen hundreds). The first wall (the one with the passageway) is all book shelves. There are ladders to reach the higher shelves. (this means that one of the shelves moves to reveal the passageway) as you enter the wall to your left is also covered in books. The wall to you right has a large bay window, which cannot be seen from the outside. This is because it's sort of like a one way mirror (the type you find in interrogation rooms). From the outside it just looks like another section of wall. From the inside you can see everyone on the outside. Cool huh? Then the wall directly in front of you as you enter. There is a 72inch TV hanging on the wall. A very large collection of dvds in cabinets underneath it. Infront of the TV is a couch. The couch has it's back facing the passageway. Then the two chairs. I'm not sure if that helped at all with your visual picture of the room and believe me if I actually had a talent for drawing then I'd draw the room, then put the pictures on photobucket or something so that you could see them and understand. Unfortunately my drawing skills are shite. **

**Anyways on another matter. There are still Gallagher Girl places to be filled. And Blackthorne boy places as well if you're a boy or if you want someone you know to be a blackthorne boy.**

**P.S hope you liked the long chapter. Normally I would've made this into two chapters but I didn't want to and thought that you'd all enjoy a long one instead. Hope you liked Abby's story and hopefully Cammie or Abby wasn't to OOC for you. She/they might be a little bit OOC for a little while but she/they will be back to the mostly confident spy in training that she/they is/are.**

**Please Review, criticism is welcome. **

**Shadow**


	4. A Mission Objective

Okay I screwed up. In the original chapter they were going to the Mall of America. when i looked up malls in DC that's what came up.  
**Cammie: Damn google. I'm seriously pissed. And so is Macey we were really looking forward to that.  
Me: Oh be quiet, you might be able to go to Minnesota for a trip or something.**  
As you probably know MOA is NOT in DC but in Minnesota. This is quite embarrassing if I do say so myself. I've now changed it to the Arundel Mills or The Mills (not sure which it's commonly called by) which is in Maryland hopefully everything has been fixed up and I do apologize. Now I just have to edit a few things in the next chapter and then it should be done, hopefully in a few hours, give or take thirty minutes.

Thank you massively to the two wonderful reviewers who told me of the error i made. Thank you so much. :)

**Alright I know that you've been waiting FOREVER for this chapter and you probably hate me right now but here it is. Truth be told I actually have the next chapter half written already, mostly because when I first got the idea for this story I just wrote up a few chapter ideas and so yeah. Oh and when Cammie is writing her mission briefing I might add in her thoughts in bold or italics but when I do it'll look a little something like this (C/N this I added with Macey specifically in mind). So yes C/N just stands for Cammie Note and it isn't actually included in the briefing itself. If you know what I mean. Anyways Enjoy. Also I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far and thank you too everyone who has submitted their names to be spies. You'll be making you big debuts in the coming chapters. I've had to make up how you look though so forgive me if I'm completely off base or if I somehow offend you. I do apologise. **

**Now that we're done with that, please continue on with the story. **

**

* * *

Mission Briefing**

My computer beeped as I stepped out from the bathroom early the next morning. As soon as I had woken up I'd turned my computer on, waiting impatiently for the email from Aunt Abby. I'd woken up earlier then the other which was surprising because usually it took them half a dozen tries to get me out of bed. The others however were still asleep when I awoke so I thought it best to get ready before they woke up.

I grabbed my brush and started to untangle my wet hair with one hand while I used my other to bring up the email.

**From: **cameronab (at) gallaghergirls(.)com  
**To: **chameleon (at) gallaghergirls (.) com  
**Subject:** Mission Instructions

**Your Mission:** You are to tail a group of Blackthorne Boys to their destination without being discovered. There will be fifteen Gallagher Girls and fifteen Blackthorne Boys. You will each have one tailee. Each GG will choose a disguise the day before the mission and will put it on once we reach The Mills shopping center.

Cameron I want you to write up a mission briefing for this one. Nothing too fancy, just the basics. Think back to all the briefings that you've read (and written *wink wink*) ask the girls if you need a hand. The four of you have already been chosen to go on the mission but I want you to pick eleven other girls to go with you. Below is a list of the girls you can choose from. Look up their profiles on the school database and use your instincts. Remember when ever you are choosing an agent for a mission, if your gut is telling you they aren't right for the part, then they probably aren't.

The mission will take place the day after tomorrow. We will be departing from the helicopter pad bright and early at 0700. Tell the girls not to be late or the helicopter WILL leave without them. You will all be excused from classes tomorrow to prepare for the mission and gather together your disguises and memorise you cover legends. We will arrive in Maryland at 1100 at the latest then the Arundel Mills Shopping center by 1130.

Now for Extra Credit, see if you can find out which Blackthorne Boys you'll be tailing ;) Have Fun!

~Abby

Alyssa Murvin

Tina Walters

Anna Fetterman

Courtney Bauer

Eva Alvarez

Kim Lee

Mick Morrison

Monique Muchic

Livia Crawford

Clara Faed

Stephanie Jones

Lara Knead

Pippi Stallings

Once I'd finished the email I couldn't keep the grin off my face. I looked at the clock in the corner of the screen to see that it was only quarter past six. We didn't have to wake up till seven thirty, and breakfast wasn't still eight thirty. Guess I could start picking out who's going on the mission now.

Pulling up a word document I separated the page into to two columns. The title on the ride side was **Agents Chosen** and on the left **Agents Available**.

**Agents Available**  
Cameron Morgan  
Rebecca Baxter  
Macey McHenry  
Elizabeth Sutton  
Alyssa Murvin  
Tina Walters  
Anna Fetterman  
Courtney Bauer  
Eva Alvarez  
Kim Lee  
Mick Morrison  
Monique Muchic  
Livia Crawford  
Clara Faed  
Stephanie Jones  
Lara Knead  
Pippi Stallings  
Shannon Smith

**Agents Chosen  
**Cameron Morgan – Chameleon  
Rebecca Baxter – Duchess  
Macey McHenry - Peacock  
Elizabeth Sutton – Bookworm  
Tina Walters – Paparazzi  
Anna Fetterman – Pringle  
Courtney Bauer – Robin  
Eva Alvarez – Chica  
Kim Lee - Geisha  
Mick Morrison – Artemis  
Alyssa Murvin – Rocks  
Monique Muchic – MC (Mini-Chameleon/ Mini-C)  
Livia Crawford – Amazon  
Shannon Smith – Sapphire  
Stephanie Jones – Donnie

* * *

By the time I'd finished it was only ten to seven. Time was passing slowly and I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing today. I printed out the page with the columns (shockingly enough the printer didn't wake my friends. They had to have taken something last night so they could sleep through all the noise I've made.) and put it beside me as I started to type up the mission briefing.

**

* * *

Mission Objective:** Follow the Blackthorne Boys (here after referred to as 'The Subjects') for half an hour without being detected. During that half hour they will be buying certain items. You must observe what these items are. They will buy six items and you must find out what at least four of them are. After the half an hour you will be able call them in with the items that they've bought. If you are wrong then you will report to the designated meeting area. If you have failed your mission (either by being compromised or gathering the wrong information) then your team mates can still call in your target though they will not have to gather any information about the subject other what they are wearing as suitable identification that they have in fact got the right person. Once everyone from one team has failed then everyone will be notified by a page over the speaker system and the remaining team members will report to the meeting point. Remember, the Subjects are able to call in suspicious activity at any point, which includes before the half hour is up.

All Operatives are to arrive at the helicopter pad at 0700 on (date not available for public view). The helicopter will be leaving at exactly 0710. Do NOT be late or you will be left behind. Good Luck and don't get caught.

~Chameleon

* * *

I desperately wanted to find out which Blackthorne boys. I could get Liz to hack into the school database and pull up all the necessary files after classes, before dinner or after dinner should we run out time before. You're probably wondering why I didn't just pull up the files while I looked through the girls profiles, well I knew that I would get distracted and if I found out who exactly was going before classes then I wouldn't be able to concentrate at all.

The sound of an alarm blaring made me jump a foot off the bed, nearly dropping my laptop in the process. "Geez," I muttered to my self, trying to slow my heart rate back down to normal. The girls started to slowly wake up though I heard Macey mutter from the other end of the room, "Should we get Cammie up now, or wait until after we've showered?" I couldn't help but laugh causing Bex to turn over in her bed and look at me. "Cammie? You're up? And you're laughing, and smiling, and dressed, and awake. I must be dreaming." This caused me to start laughing more. "No Bex, not dreaming. I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep, and when I got out of the bathroom Abby had sent me the instructions for the mission briefing and I'd just finished when you guys woke up."

Mission, briefing, and Abby seemed to be the magic words that I've been looking for because as soon as they left my mouth the girls immediately perked up and we jumping over each others beds and themselves to get to mine. I had to hold on tightly to my laptop so it didn't get jostled from my grip as the girls jumped on my bed. They all started firing questions off at me at the same time and I couldn't understand anything they said. "GUYS! STOP! Jeez. First things first; you're on a time limit. You've already wasted five minutes of getting ready time. One of you shower and the rest can look at what I've got so far, then when the person in the shower is finished they can look at it. If they have time." Macey got off the bed and grabbed her clothes, disappearing into the bathroom. "I'll be out in ten," she yelled through the door. Liz yelled back, "Alright," before turning back to me.

I put the piece of paper that I'd printed out earlier in front of them and they started examining the names on the list. "Hey Cam, why'd you pick these girls?"  
"Well, as annoying as Tina can be, she's good. You know how well Anna did when she did this mission last year. Courtney, Ava, Kim and Mick are good but I thought they could use a little practise and this is as good a shot as any."

"And what about those other girls, aren't they a year below us?"  
"Yeah, but they were on the list that Abby sent me as well as some other girls so she must've thought that they'd be good enough or something. And when I read their profiles, they seem to have a lot of potential, if they didn't Abby wouldn't have put them on the list." I said brushing of the fact that a couple of Sophomore girls had been placed on a Junior CoveOps mission.

The girls finished looking through the mission briefing and finished getting ready. By the time they were finished and looking "presentable" (not sure who they had to look presentable for there was no one to impress here) it was time to go down for breakfast. As we walked from the room, leaving the list and my laptop on the bed I thought 'This is going to be fun'.

By the time we arrived at the dining hall I'd asked Liz to hack into the database after dinner, which led to questions as to why I didn't look when I got the girls' profiles, which led to me having to explain the reasons why. We took our seats at our usual table and once the teachers sat down we started our meal. I caught Abby's eye and smiled and waved slightly, she smiled back and nodded. I looked at her hands. One was holding her fork and the other was under the table. Again. I looked pointedly at her then the table like I did last night. Her eyes narrowed slightly but the smile on her lips told me she was just playing. I smirked and turned back to my friends and listened as they talked while I finished my breakfast.

Finally it was after dinner. Some classes had passed quickly and some aggravatingly slow. CoveOps was interesting. Joe and Abby are both teaching today. They decided to do some revision on what we'd been taught. The most amusing one was brush passes.

_FLASHBACK_

_Abby was holding a quarter in her hand and as she brushed passed Soloman her hand held his for a second longer then it should've. He even squeezed her hand a little. When they asked the class if anything was wrong with the brush pass no one could answer them. They hadn't been able to pick up on anything being wrong with it. I on the other hand had. I extended my arm in the air and waved my hand slightly._

"_Yes Cammie, what was wrong with that brush pass." Joe asked me. "Well," I paused, a cheeky smile on my face, "as Abby walked towards you, your eyes glinted with recognition – not something you want when trying to brush pass. Also your hands stayed connected for longer then necessary and before that your hands went to meet each other." I left out that he'd squeezed her hand. Not wanting to clue the rest of the class in that they were dating. Abby looked slightly shocked but her eyes showed that she was proud of me. Joe's weren't quite as giving, although he did smile at me when he said, "Very good Cammie, very good indeed." Before turning back to the rest of the class and lecturing them on the finer points of brush passing and how they should be done correctly and without even the slightest flaw._

_Abby came quietly to my side, "I'm proud of you Cammie, I had hoped that no one would pick up on our mistakes but I should've known that you of all people would." I looked up at her and smiled. "Well I've been able to learn from you, mum, dad and Uncle Jay. And one of the first things Uncle Jay taught us was to notice things." I whispered back to her in such a soft voice that only she could hear. She smiled again before standing up and walking back to the front of the room, brushing my hand gently as she left. _

_I looked down and saw a piece of paper in my hand. __**Have those names to me before dinner. ~Abby**_

_END FLASHBACK_

Liz had gotten into the school database pretty easily, but getting into the files containing the list of boys attending the CoveOps mission was a little bit tricker. Not a problem for Liz though; she had hacked the file in under five minutes. Pretty good I must say, it would've taken the rest of us about ten minutes more. "Alright, we are in. I'm sending the pages to the printer as we speak but there are a few and it'll take a little while." We all nodded and just gathered around her computer. There right in front of us was list of all the Blackthorne Boys that we were going to be tailing the day after tomorrow and I wasn't sure if I wanted to know if Zach was going to be one of them. Finally I looked at the screen and scanned the list.

* * *

Grant Newman – Romeo  
Jonas Anderson – Hacker  
Andrew Johnson – Ripper  
Nicholas Jameson – Hannibal  
Ryan Kane – Leo  
Sean Stracken – Playboy  
Tyler Sorbo – Hercules  
Jackson King – Trojan  
Justin Crew – Wolf  
Zachary Goode – Shadow

* * *

I recognized some of the names from when the boys were here last and after seeing Zach's name excitement was buzzing through my body. One of the names stood out more to me then the others and long after we'd packed up and gone to bed the name nagged at me. I tried brushing it off but just as I was drifting to sleep I realised why and my last thought before falling asleep was, 'Oh Shit!'

**A/N Alright there you have it. I meant to update earlier but I had a three day camp and my laptop wasn't connected to the internet. I totally forgot Tina's last name while I was writing this and typed in Tina Turner. Whoops. When I looked up Mall of America on the internet I didn't expect it to be so FREAKING HUGE. I'm looking at the map of the store as I write this and I'm pretty sure that my eyes are about to pop out of my head. The theme park in the middle of the mall is seven acres on its own. The entire place is four floors. That's four floors of Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Sears and Macy's. I'm pretty sure I'm about to die. This is Amazing with a capital 'A'. All of you who live in Minnesota, I'm kinda jealous. I sooo want to visit their Barnes and Nobles. **

Again thank you too JJ and chameleon333 for helping me out**. **I've never been to America :'( . Now quick question for anyone who can answer it is The Mills shopping center all indoors because i'm looking at the map right now and it is very unclear. It looks like it's all indoors but...well after last time I wanted to be sure. :P**  
**


	5. Payback and Heartbreak

**Alright, this is quite embarrassing. I said the Mall of America was in DC when it is in fact in Minnesota. Whoops!  
**

**When the Comm units are in use, what the girls say will be in **_italics_**. What the boys say will be in ****bold ****and what Soloman and Abby say to the girls will be **_underlined in italics _**and what Soloman says to the boys will be ****underlined in bold.**

**Cammie POV**

Finally we landed in a field about three miles from the mall. Waiting for us was a black van at which I couldn't help but mutter, "Well _that_ won't stand out at all." Causing the girls around me to laugh and I could've sworn that Joe had a small smile on his face, one that if you hadn't been looking for it you never would've noticed, not even if you were a spy.

We all piled into the van and sat down. We'd all memorized our legends the previous day and on the helicopter and now Joe was distributing the gear. What struck us all as odd was when he gave us two comms units…each.

"Um, sir? Why do we have _two_ comms units?" Bex asked. At this he smirked one of those I-know-something-you-don't-know-but-when-you-do-you're-going-to-love-it smirks. And he was right once he explained, we did love it. You see the second comms was connected to our tails comms except for the added bonus that they couldn't hear what we said but we could hear them.

Oh and did I mention that our tails were the Blackthorne boys? Yes? Well too bad I'm mentioning it again. We had our disguises in our bags – which were actually bags from actual shops at the mall – and would change in the bathrooms. The van came to a stop in the rooftop car park. We all piled out, holding the bags with our disguises firmly in our hands, a comm unit in each ear and entered the top level of the mall, splitting off into pairs or on our own.

"**Alright, remember girls, I can hear everything that goes on with both you and the boys. If either I or Ms Cameron tell you you've been compromised you are to go to the designated area. The same goes for the boys. If they are compromised then they shall be going to the same area. This is a compromise or be compromised mission. If you compromise their fifteen before they compromise your fifteen you win." **

We knew the rules but listened anyway. **"Oh and just remember having these comms units won't necessarily help you locate your targets. Just listen into their conversations,"** and that's when I found out that certain smirks are actually audible.

Bex and I headed into the closest store and went to the change rooms, grabbing a few items of clothes, on the pretense of actually trying something on. When we emerged, we could barely recognize each other. My blondish-brown hair was now pitch black, my eyes were dark blue, my skin was the same. There were fake piercings in my lower lip and nose and a fake tattoo wound up my right arm, starting from my wrist and ending at my shoulder. My blue jeans, red top and brown jacket had been replaced with black skinny jeans, a black top with no sleeves and showed off my shoulders. My shoes which were black converse stayed the same. Her dark hair was bleached blonde and her skin had lightened a few shades, her eyes were green and she looked really preppy, with a capital 'P'. We parted ways, leaving the clothes in the change rooms. The girls were starting to check in.

"_Chica here, suspected target spotted, I'm on the move."  
"Pringle here, still locating target."  
"Pringle, your target has been spotted at Wet Seal." – Donnie_

For the next few minutes it went on like that. People calling in, reporting that they'd located their targets or someone elses target. I was the fifth person to call in that I'd spotted mine and Bex was after me. They hadn't worn disguises although that wouldn't stop them from changing their appearance later on. They too knew the rules of the game.

"**Alright boys, your mission is to collect the items on your list within half an hour. Then you must lose your tail or compromise them, should you still have one, and if by the end of the hour at least one of you remains uncompromised then you win. You must retrieve all the items on your list within the half hour. After that you may wander aimlessly, though you must remain on alert. Oh and before I forget, if you compromise your tail then that doesn't mean that one of their friends can't compromise you instead." **

Soloman restated the rules that we'd already memorised. I saw Zach walk right by me muttering into his ear piece. **"Sir, who is it exactly that's tailing us?"** I had to bite my lip to stop my laughter. **"It's the Gallagher Girls, I'm surprised that you didn't gather that information when you first learned of the mission."**Even biting my lip didn't stop the grin that had spread across my face. Not very spy like but this was priceless. Zachary Goode had finally been beaten at his own game.**"Well we tried sir, but the files weren't there. They'd been deleted from the database completely. There wasn't anything to gather information from." **He sounded almost defeated, and I smirked at Liz as she we passed each other.

"_Nicely done girls, I'm proud of you."_ Aunt Abby praised us, _"Oh it was a pleasure Abby. It was reward enough to beat Zachary "points-to-self-and-says-Spy" Goode at his own game."_ I said quietly, knowing that she'd hear it loud and clear in the van. Laughter came from both comm units and I knew that Soloman was also laughing. **"Soloman, why are you laughing?" **"**Because, Justin it seems that you boys have been outsmarted and Mr Goode beaten at his own game,"** Insert smirk of pride here. The night that we'd hacked into the Blackthorne Database to find out who exactly we would be tailing, before we left we deleted it from the system but not before making a hard copy and then copying the file to our own hard drive, then removing all trace of the file even being there to begin with. It took Liz all of five minutes to do. She was quite proud of her self. **"That would've been the work of four girls in particular Mr Goode. And I think you know who."** Silence, sweet, sweet, silence.

Looking down at my watch I saw that fifteen minutes had already passed and Zach had only gone into two stores, but he'd already purchased four of the items on his list. That was all I needed to know but I still had fifteen minutes until I could actually call him in. Quite annoying really.

"_Hey Chameleon, do you think they could be talking about us?" _Macey's faux innocent voice would've convinced me had I not known that she was grinning like a Cheshire cat and trying to contain her laughter. _"Well I don't know Peacock, they might just."_

"**Alright, I think I've got one boys. Black hair, red singlet top, and a denim mini, showing way more skin that needed," **the boy said drawing out the 'a' into more than one syllable, **"Oh and she kept following me into shops and following me around asking what I was buying. I have dubbed her creepy stalker chick. Oh crap she's coming back."**Laughing to myself I remembered what all the girls had walked into the mall wearing and which girls had what disguises and after going through all the possibilities, I realised that Tina was the only one with that outfit and black hair. Oh God, and we weren't even past the half hour mark yet. **"Ok, that wasn't at all strange. The creepy stalker chick just asked me out." **I heard Tina make a very, undignified sound. **"Dude, what'd you say?"** If we hadn't been better trained to blend in there would be fourteen Gallagher Girls bursting with laughter all around the mall.

"**What do you think I said Andrew?" **_"Don't these boys ever use code names?"_ Stephanie asked, irritated. _"Because they're guys, they don't have a discrete bone in their entire body."_ Even if I didn't recognize Shannon's voice, I could've recognized her sarcasm anywhere. _"Now, now Miss Smith, there is no need to judge every male based on a few." __"It's Sapphire, Wise Guy. And you just proved my point." _  
_"Owned."  
"Burn."  
"Ooo."  
"Walked right into that one." _These were what I caught out of thirteen comments. We tuned back into what the boys were saying.

"**No Andrew, I didn't stay yes. Jesus, who do you think I am? You do realise that I have a girlfriend."  
"Right, forgot about that."  
"Oh come on dude, that chick was hot. Maybe a little crazy, but still hot, and you haven't seen your girlfriend since she left for that boarding school. And besides she'd never find out. She's in England isn't she?" **Who was this guy? He must be a serious idiot. **  
"Sean, do you really think that I'd cheat on the hottest girl on the planet, with a girl that was stalking me at the mall. Seriously, no thank you. Besides Macey could decapitate us both if she found out this was even being discussed."** So that's his name, Sean. Wait…Macey?

"_Peacock would you like to explain what in the hell he's talking about?" –Bex  
"When did you get a boyfriend?" – Liz  
"And why did you not tell us?" – Me  
"Because, we only got together a month before break ended and I didn't want to make a big deal about it. He doesn't even know that I'm a Gallagher Girl." _That didn't explain a whole lot though.  
"_Fine, but you will be explaining __**everything**__ to, starting from the beginning when we get back to school."_ She made an uncommitted sound but agreed none-the-less.

We were still had a few minutes until the thirty minute count was over and we could call the boys in. Zach had changed his appearance slightly, he'd replaced his green shirt with a white one, put on a black leather jacket, **(A/N anyone drooling yet?)**, everything else had stayed the same as far as I could tell. He looked sort of like Zac Efron when he was in 17 Again, but hotter and more awesome. And without the skinny jeans.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, I didn't bother looking at it because it was just telling me that the thirty minutes was up. I realised that as I'd been scrutinizing Zach's new apparel and hotness I'd tuned out the buzzing of voices in my ears. The girls had started rattling off descriptions of guys and what items they'd bought, while the guys were still discussing girls. Every few minutes one of the guys would call in the description of a girl thinking that they'd spotted on of us. Only two were correct. Jonas, and Andrew, they'd gotten out Liz and Livia. Grant was now out but a minute later Sean had gotten her out unwittingly. He'd been describing what her to the guys, not actually saying she was a spy. Needless to say, Mr Soloman had still told her to go to the meeting place.

I was going to call in Zach but something in my gut told me too wait. So I did, instead biding my time by listening to what the guys were saying.

"**Oh come on Sean, get real. Zach actually going and hitting on someone. Sure he could but wouldn't." –Grant  
"And why is that Grant?" –Sean  
"Because he has a girlfriend."** Grant said in a 'duh' tone of voice and he sounded very annoyed with a hint of amusement. Then Grant's words registered. Zach had a girlfriend? When did this happen? _Over the summer, obviously._ My little voice, that sounded strangely like Macey mocked me. I heard the shocked gasps of my three best friends but ignored them.

"**Um, since when?"** Zach's confused voice somehow brought me comfort and slowed down my rapidly beating heart. I wasn't sure if I was calming from hearing his voice or because he sounded genuinely confused.

"**You know, average height, dark blonde hair, blue eyes, goes by Cammie but you frequently called her Gallagher Girl. Any of this ringing a bell for you buddy?"** I tried to control my blushing cheeks, when I heard Grant's words. But when the girls awed, the whole trying to control my blushing went straight out the window.

Zach was standing by the south entrance, or Entrance 3 or 4 or what ever it was called on the map, staring out into the parking lot, and I was leaning on a wall a few hundred meters away, watching closely but not staring so much that he felt someone looking at him.

"**What the hell are you talking about Grant? Cammie isn't my girlfriend, or anything close to it for that matter."** I tried to ignore the pain in my heart as his words cut me.  
**"Well unless I'm mistaken you kissed her in front of **_**everybody**_** before we left last year."  
"Yeah, I remember that. There was even some dippage. I must say, most movie like kiss ever." **Some boy who I hadn't heard talking over the comms before voiced his opinion.  
**"Justin, nice of you to join the conversation. But look, I'll say it again, Cameron is not my girlfriend, nor will she be."  
"Alright, if not this Cammie chick, what about that brunette I saw you swapping spit with when I saw you in town the other day? Have to say man, nice job. She was hot." ** My heart wrenched painfully at the mere thought of Zach "swapping spit" with anyone and by now I could recognize Sean's voice and it was starting to irritate me too no end.  
**"Sean, shut your trap, we don't care what you think."** Grant was growing more agitated by the second, I wonder why. I heard Bex trying to get my attention and tuned into what she was saying. _"Chameleon, Grant knows that we can hear their conversation. Soloman told him but he's not allowed to say anything to the other boys."_ Oh, so that explains it then.

"**Zach, seriously what's going on with you? When we were at Gallagher Academy the person you hung out with most was Cammie and when you weren't hanging around her you were talking about her."** Months ago hearing that would've sent me blushing but now it did little dull the pain in my heart.

"**She meant nothing to me. After meeting her on our Cove Ops mission she seemed like the kind of girl up to having a little fun. After a whole semester of hanging around her I realised that she's just an annoying, whiny, little girl who isn't cut out to be a spy."** And that was it. My heart shattered, and I felt like I'd been winded. Then I felt the anger coursing through my system and ignoring Grant's muttering of curse words, Bex and Macey's promises of killing him with their bare hands I told Soloman what I should've fifteen minutes ago when the half hour mark first passed.

"_Jackass at the south entrance, black jeans, white shirt, black leather jacket, Zachary Goode, codename Shadow, he bought: a black ipod cover, earphones, a black leather bracelet, phone credit, wallet and black leather cord necklace – it had nothing on it. Does anyone else see a pattern here? Oh and he looks like an asshole."_ Joe let out a sad sigh, _"I'm sorry Cameron, you've done great today. Why don't you get the girls then come back to the van, you and Za-Mr Goode were the last ones."_ I didn't say anything to confirm that I'd heard him, I just stood where I was, waiting for Zach to be told that he'd been compromised.

"**Mr Goode, you've been compromised. Congratulations, you've lost."** Soloman had an edge in his voice and the way he said that Zach had lost implied that he was talking about more then just the mission.

As I turned to walk away I noticed a flicker of movement and looked back to Zach. He'd spun around and was looking wildly around. As his eyes passed over me I gave him a two fingered wave. **(A/N not a rude two fingered wave, I don't think she'd do that. It was more just a wave using her pointer and middle fingers)** His eyes flashed to the movement of my hand, then too my face. I'd taken the contacts out already as well as the fake piercings, and I took off the wig now. I hadn't realised that I'd moved closer and now only stood fifty meters from him.

His eyes showed shock and realisation but no regret, no remorse, nothing. Keeping my expression like stone and not letting my eyes convey any emotion, I turned and disappeared into the crowd. Letting it swallow me whole, it didn't spit me back out until I reached the food court. Walking by I saw Grant stand and try to move towards me but I didn't stop or slow my pace, I just kept walking towards the entry/exit on the other side of the food court. I didn't look back, didn't slow or stop. Just weaved in and out of the crowd until I reached the doors.

I barely remember climbing into the van, I don't remember the words of comfort whispered to me by my friends. I hardly remember the helicopter ride back to school. What I do remember is running up to my room, going to the bathroom, stripping off my clothes and getting into the shower.

"_**She meant nothing to me. After meeting her on our Cove Ops mission she seemed like the kind of girl up to having a little fun. After a whole semester of hanging around her I realised that she's just an annoying, whiny, little girl who isn't cut out to be a spy."**_

Zach's words echoed through my head, and I broke. My stony façade cracked right down the middle and I sunk to the shower floor, letting the hot water beat down on me, mixing with my tears.

**A/N I was going to stop here but the I thought…Nah, you guys have had to wait a while for this chapter so why not make it longer and better. 3092 words so far.**

_**Bex POV**_

"**Mr Newman you have been compromised."**  
_"Duchess you have been compromised."_

I inwardly cursed. That stupid douche bag hadn't even meant to compromise me, he'd just been describing what I looked like to his buddies. I walked the distance to the food court and saw Grant waving me over. Sitting in the seat across from his we sat in silence for a minute. "I really missed you Bex." I smiled coyly and looked up at him from under my eye lashes. "I missed you too Romeo." He reached across the table and took my hand in his.

Around us were Gallagher Girls and Blackthorne Boys gathering at the tables talking and some were flirting. All of a sudden some guy with dirty blonde surfer hair came up to me, pulling a chair next to me and sat down. "Well hello there beautiful. What are you doing sitting here all on your lonesome?" What…the…bloody…hell? Grant coughed from the other side of the table, drawing surfer dudes attention to him.

"Sean, what the hell are you doing?"  
"Oh hey Grant, didn't see you there. This is the girl I told you about. Isn't she hot?" Skeez. "Yeah, Sean she is. She's also beautiful, gorgeous and my girlfriend." Shock went through my body before I grinned. He'd called me his girlfriend. True he hadn't actually asked me but who cares? "And if you don't stop hitting on her then I will let her damage you." An uncomfortable silence settled over the tables which had been occupied by the GG's and BB's before a strange choking sound cut through it like a knife. Looking around I tried to find the source of the choking, my eyes rested on Sean and I realised that it was him. And I think he was…laughing. Strange.

"Yeah right, like princess here is going to be able to do anything to me," he turned to me, "no offence babe but, you look like you're built more for pleasure then pain." Gasps sounded from the tables surrounding us, and I recognised them all as Gallagher Girls. I looked at Sean and saw that he was smirking. That's it, I've had enough of this punk. Standing up I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to his feet. I grabbed his arm, let go of his shirt, spun him around so his back was facing me, bent his arm behind his back, pushed up and slammed his head into the table in front of him. Not letting go of his arm I leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "Still think I can't hurt you, punk? Right now I'm going easy, this is just a warning. But say that kind of shit to one of us again and you will quickly find yourself not able to reproduce. Is that clear?"

A timid yes sounded from the boy and I released his arm, letting him back up. I knew what he was going to do before he even thought about it. He spun around and I caught his fist before he was able to strike, I raised my knee and kicked him in his family jewels. He collapsed to the ground clutching his groin and I bent down again to say to him, "Never mess with a Gallagher Girl," I felt a presence behind me and was about to strike out when I heard the voice of one of our girls, " 'Cos when you mess with one of us," Monique trailed off. "You mess with us all." Alyssa finished in true Gallagher Girl style. I could hear Grant chuckling behind us and the rest of the Blackthorne boys were staring at us in awe. Two of them were looking more specifically at Ally and Monique, hmm, interesting. Sean pulled himself into a chair while one of the other boys handed him a newly bought cold soft drink can from on the machines nearby. "She got you good, man." The boy stated while trying to hide his grin. "Shut up," Sean was trying to sound commanding and scary but the high tone of his voice threw everyone off. And not a minute later everyone had started laughing again, serves him right.

I started talking to the girls again, tuning out what the boys were saying but when Grant said that Zach wouldn't go and hit on someone I tuned back in quickly.

"**And why is that Grant?" ** God this kid was annoying me too no end. And after a quick glance back at Grant I could see that he was getting pretty pissed off too.**  
"Because he has a girlfriend." **Ha! Stick that were the sun don't shine you dim-witted surfer bo- wait, Zach has a girlfriend? I heard myself gasp, along with two of my three best friends.  
**"Um, since when?"** Zach sounded confused…but wasn't that Grant's forte? I mean no offense to Grant but he was more brawn then brains when it came to thinking logically.  
**"You know, average height, dark blonde hair, blue eyes,"** Cammie has dark blonde hair and blue eyes,** "goes by Cammie,"** well there you go,** "but you frequently called her Gallagher Girl. Any of this ringing a bell for you buddy?"**

"**What the hell are you talking about Grant? Cammie isn't my girlfriend, or anything close to it for that matter."** I tried to ignore the urge to hunt him down and rip him limb from limp. I could only imagine what this was doing to my best friend.  
**"Well unless I'm mistaken you kissed her in front of **_**everybody**_** before we left last year."  
"Yeah, I remember that. There was even some dippage. I must say, most movie like kiss ever." **One of the boys sitting nearby chimed in. At first glance he sort of resembled Cammie, could've passed as her brother, but after doing a double take I thought, 'Nah, Cammie doesn't have a brother, she would've told us,"  
**"Justin, nice of you to join the conversation. But look, I'll say it again, Cameron is not my girlfriend, nor will she be."** I had to fight the urge harder, and when I looked at Grant I could see that he wanted to do the same as me.**  
"Alright, if not this Cammie chick, what about that brunette I saw you swapping spit with when I saw you in town the other day? Have to say man, nice job. She was hot." ** God would Sean ever SHUT UP? I could only imagine what that did to Cammie. Oh how I wish I could be there next to her. I knew her, and I knew that her heart would be close to shattering if it hadn't already.  
**"Sean, shut your trap, we don't care what you think." **Grant jumped down Sean's throat, he was growing even more pissed, even that Justin dude looked ready to break his neck.

"**She meant nothing to me. After meeting her on our Cove Ops mission she seemed like the kind of girl up to having a little fun. After a whole semester of hanging around her I realised that she's just an annoying, whiny, little girl who isn't cut out to be a spy."** I heard Macey cursing beside me and turned in surprise, I hadn't noticed her behind me. Great spy skills, Bex, geez. "I'll kill him."  
"Don't mind if I help." The look in her eyes was murderous. Her cover legend when ever she was around her parents and anyone who new her as Macey McHenry, Governors daughter instead of Macey McHenry, Gallagher Girl, assumed that she was just a selfish, stuck up, princess. But we knew the real her. And the real her is pissed as all hells demons when her friends are hurt. And if you get in her way then you have a snow balls chance in hell of surviving her wrath. I could sense the anger radiating off of every Gallagher Girl and nearly every Blackthorne boy around us. It didn't matter if it was directed at Zach or Sean or both. All that mattered was that they were pissed. Looking at the boys I took in their expressions.

Sean looked oddly satisfied with himself, asshole. Justin looked ready to kill, couldn't agree more with you there buddy. I recognised the rest from their profile pictures; Tyler, Andrew, Ryan, Jackson looked as if they were in shock. The looks on their faces clearly said that they didn't know what to do. The other boy, who hadn't stopped staring at Macey since he got called in, and who I'm assuming was Nick, looked only half as angry I felt. I looked at Grant last. I was shocked to see that his shoulders were slouched and he looked resigned.

I wanted to go to him, wrap my arms around his waist and tell him that everything would be okay, that we'd fix this. But I knew that I couldn't make that promise. I couldn't promise to fix this, because what if we fixed it and it just brought Cammie more pain. I couldn't do that to her. _But what if not fixing it brings more?_ A voice in my head told me, and I didn't have an answer.

Looking up I saw her. She had broken free of the bustling crowd and was walking towards us. She ignored the looks from Gallagher Girls and Blackthorne Boys alike. I tried to put a hand out too touch her arm, tell her that we were there for here, but she didn't notice. She didn't stop, just kept walking towards the doors that led to the parking lot. _"Let's move, we're going back to school."_ All the girls started towards the doors, save for Monique, Alyssa, Shannon, Liz, Macey and I. Liz went to Jonas, Nick went to Macey, I turned to Grant, Monique went to Ryan, Jackson went to Alyssa and Tyler and Shannon met in the middle. Hmm looks like not everyone's love lives have been completely shot to hell.

Grant and I said our goodbyes, and he said he'd text me tonight. I hadn't given him my number yet but didn't bother to bring it up. Not to mention that until Liz finished upgrading our mobiles so that the signal could get through the thick walls, none of them would work.

When the girls and I entered the van I immediately went to Cammie's and sat in the seat beside her. She was staring out the window, her expression unchanged. I didn't know what to say to make this better. For the first time since I was a child, I didn't know what to do.

All I did know was that my best friend was in pain and I would do anything to make that pain go away.

**Grant POV**

I said my goodbyes to Bex, telling her that I'd text her tonight even though I didn't know her number. I'd have to get Jonas to help me find that. My thoughts were immediately cut off when I saw Zach heading towards us, looking at the ground. The anger I'd been feeling not long ago flared up again and I stood in his path.

"What the hell were you thinking?" He stopped in his tracks and looked up at me. He hadn't bothered to hide his pain like Cammie had. His was displayed on his face for the world to see. My moment of sympathy for him was overridden by my brotherly-protectiveness over Cammie. It didn't matter that we weren't really related but she was like the kid sister I never had but always wanted. "Answer me, dammit!" I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up, "Grant, not here. Wait till we get back to school." Justin said calmly yet any trained spy could detect the anger that lingered beneath. I nodded stiffly and headed off to the van, wondering the whole way there, how Zach could be so stupid.

As I entered the parking lot I saw Soloman standing outside of the Gallagher Girl van herding the girls in. Bex looked back at me and smiled a sad smile, and I could only nod back to her. Soloman caught my eye and held my gaze for only a few seconds, but the message in them was clear, '_Tell them,'_

**Mystery POV**

I stared after Cammie as she made her escape. How could this happen? Cammie was the strongest girl I'd ever known and now, behind her stony façade, she was breaking. Her eyes may have appeared flat and emotionless but underneath it all there was pain. How could I have let this happen? I was supposed to protect her and instead…

I followed the other Blackthorne Boys out, ignoring the lustful looks of the teenage girls around me. Looking around the parking lot I saw Soloman herding the remainder of the girls into their black van. Catching his eye, he nodded stiffly at me and I nodded sadly back. He let me know that even when I wasn't there to protect Cammie, he would be.

As I sat in the van with my friends I thought back to the last time I'd seen her before today. It had been over the summer and she was at the farm in Nevada. I knew that I shouldn't have been there, but I had to check up and make sure that she was okay. She had been in the barn beating up sacks filled with straw, which she'd rigged up so that they'd swing back and forth from the beams over head.

I'd thought about revealing myself from my hiding spot then, but I knew that when I had to leave again, it would be harder to say goodbye then it was last time.

Unwillingly I thought back to the day that I'd left. I'd jumped into the black van that would take me away from her. As the van pulled away I looked out the window, keeping her in eye sight for as long as I could be I couldn't see her anymore, no matter which window I looked out of.

Then I see her here today, and she looked so…broken, and I knew that I had to do anything to make her smile again. And I knew what would make her smile. Even if my instincts were telling me that it was a bad idea. I had to do it. And as the van drove through the Blackthorne gates I made the promise to my self. _I promise, I will make you smile again Cammie, even if it goes against everything my instincts are telling me, I'll do it. I have too._

**Preview for next chapter (these are random and not in order):**

-"Every time we talked over the summer you would always complain about how much you missed her, how much you wanted to go and see her. And now when you are able to see her, when you _knew_ that they were there you go and do this. Why?"

-Zach held up the small black comms unit which looked like an ordinary hands free ear piece that businessmen used for their phones. "Cammie dropped this. I don't know if it was intentional or not but she did."

**Oo, what is Grant supposed to tell them. Does Zach know that they had two comm units? Who was the mystery POV? R and R!**

**A/N: alright I decided to make this chapter longer (obviously) due to the fact that I start school again tomorrow, oh yippee (note the sarcasm)!!! Anyways, and because of that fact, I'm going to have less time to write stories, which is another reason I hate school. I also probably would've had this up a day earlier but then I came up with the Mystery POV and my mum wanted my room clean before I went back to school. Anyone who enjoys having that "lived in" look and then when your mum/dad tells you too clean your room, you clean it and they say that it's not clean enough even though it looks fine probably understands why it's taken me longer then I would've liked. :P**

**Word count -6190  
**


	6. Back at School

**3****rd**** Person**

Zach threw the door open in frustration. It bounced off the wall loudly and swung back fiercely, nearly hitting Grant in the face as he stormed into the room angrily after his best friend. Holding back a growl Grant grabbed the door with his hand easily stopping it. Pushing it back open he turned and waved his hand in the universal sign for "Hurry-the-f***-up". Once Jonas, Justin and Nick had entered the room he slammed the door so hard the sound echoed through the room and the walls and windows shook, "Now that there isn't any way for us to cause a scene, what the hell where you thinking?" Grant roared. "Everytime we talked over the summer you would always complain about how much you missed her, how much you wanted to see her. And now when you are able to see her, when you _knew_ that they were there you go and do this, why?" Zach, who had been sitting on his bed, his elbows on his knees, his face in his hands, sighed heavily and rubbed his face.

Everything about him was defeated; the way his shoulders slouched, the sad, tired look in his eyes, everything about him. "Well, are you going to explain yourself?" Taking his hands from his face, he looked up. "I was stupid. I wanted to protect her but instead of being a man and telling her to her face I destroyed her like a coward."

"I knew that she was standing there. I knew she could hear what we were saying; I didn't know how she could just that she could. Just a feeling I had I guess. Then when I turned around and she was standing right there. So close to me, yet so far away, and I could see the look in her eyes, on her face. I watched as she broke and then moulded her face in to stone, and I couldn't do anything to stop it." He stood from where he sat and picked up a book from his bedside table. "I couldn't wrap my arms around her, tell her everything would be okay and try and take her pain away, because I caused it!" With a roar of outrage he threw the book at the wall.

It hit the wall with a loud thud, making everyone in the room sans Zach and Justin to jump in surprise. Justin had had enough of Zach's antics, and decided that if need be he would beat some sense into this guy. _Literally._ Walking up to Zach he stopped in front of him and before Zach had time to realise what was happening Justin had right hooked Zach in the jaw, making him stumble backwards in surprise. Before he had time to recover Justin grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back and pushed Zach against the wall so his face scraped the rough wall.

"Yes you screwed up, you hurt her, maybe even destroyed her. But guess what, while you're here being throwing a tantrum, she's at her school eating ice cream and watching romantic comedies with her friends while getting over you. You know she's probably even thinking about going into town again," at the thought of who Cammie could meet in town Zach's face hardened but Justin didn't stop, he just spurred on. "Maybe she'll meet up with that Josh dude. Maybe they'll get coffee, go to a movie, and have dinner. Maybe he'll ask her out again. Maybe they'll start dating again, maybe they'll kiss, make out, and maybe she'll fall in love with him. Maybe in a few years from now they'll get married, and you know what that means. And-" Zach's fist flew up and hit Justin in the jaw.

Before Justin had time to react he was thrown to the floor and Zach was sitting on his stomach pounding into his face, though was only actually able to land a few hits before Justin's arms covered his face. "Don't. Talk. About. Her. Like. That. That. Douche. Bag. Won't. Ever. Be. Good. Enough. For. Her!" Finally the assault stopped long enough for Grant and Nick to pull Zach away. If looks could kill then Justin would be dead, buried and decomposing. Jonas went to his side to check for injuries but when Justin moved his arms you could see the huge grin on his face. "I think you'll do just fine in winning her back Master Zachary Goode. You'll do just fine." His left eye was starting to swell, and his jaw was bruising but other then that he looked fine. "Now how are we going to help you win back your girl?"

**Back at Gallagher**

**Third Person POV**

Cammie had been in the bathroom for over an hour and the water had long since run cold but she didn't get up from the tiled shower floor. Macey had grown fed up with waiting for Cammie to come out of the bathroom, and although she didn't show it, she was worried. What could've kept Cammie from coming out for so long? Had she hurt herself? Did she slip over and was now laying on the floor, unconscious and slowly bleeding to death while they sat on the sleeping bags in front of the tv eating Doritos?

Bex chucked the bag of Doritos she was eating from to the side, stood up and started pacing between the bedroom door and the bathroom door. Liz was chewing anxiously on her finger nails while Macey was inwardly cursing the name Zachary Goode while glaring at the black screen. This went on for another few minutes before Macey couldn't sit there waiting any longer. "That's it," she jumped up and strode angrily to the bathroom door before banging on it angrily with her fist. "Cammie! Either you come out of there _right_ now or Bex is going to break down this door!"

For a few tense moments there was no answer. Then the door was opened and Cammie stood there in her dressing gown. Her head was hung down, her wet hair not even wrapped in a towel and dripping on the floor, "Oh my God, Cammie!" Liz ran forward and gathered her friend in her arms and led her to the bed. Bex ran into the bathroom and grabbed one of the fluffy towels from the bathroom cabinet. "Macey what's wrong with her?" Liz cried distraught. Never had she seen Cammie like this. Strong, beautiful, chameleon Cammi had been reduced to a weak mess and she didn't know what to do.

"Liz, she's heart broken. What Zach did, and how he did it…it broke her. Now we just have to put her back together and hope she'll be okay." Bex reappeared with a hair towel and wrapped up the sopping hair. "Oh sweetie he's not worth it," Liz tried to comfort her friend but it only seemed to bring her to tears. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

Cammie lifted her head in surprise looked at Liz through wet, sad, red eyes. Her sobs had ceased but the tears still ran freely down her cheeks, "Oh no, Liz. It wasn't you. I promise. It just I started to think about how stupid I was to trust him. I mean I'm a spy for Christ sake and yet I was so stupid that I actually trusted someone that I didn't even know." She stopped for a moment and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "As spies we're told not to trust people, trained to detect when someone is lying to you, and yet he just- he just- he-" Cammie closed her eyes and bit her lip in frustration.

"He made me fall for him." Cammie's eyes remained closed but if she opened them her friends would've been able to see the pain in them. "He made me fall for him, and then he turned around and told me that it was all a joke. I've never wanted to _not_ know the truth so much in my entire life. Which is kind of ironic since part of being a spy is to find out the truth while living a lie."

Liz looked to Macey, Macey looked to Bex and Bex looked to Liz. They were all at a loss as to what to do. Liz wanted to run and get Zach to make it all okay, but he was the one who had put her in this pain and she now she didn't know what to do. Computers and hard drives and fire walls and encryptions she could handle. Mending her best friend's broken heart, not so much.

"But you know what? I'm over him. And tonight we are going to watch movies and eat junk food till we feel sick, and in the morning we'll drag ourselves out of bed a try to stay awake through classes." Cammie said this all with a smile on her face and new light in her eyes.

But the smile was fake and the light was dim.

_I'm over him._

And her words were a lie.

**I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I really am ashamed. School has just been so hectic lately and I'm failing Advanced Science which is really not good. It's all about the periodic table which is the easiest part of it all and all the bonds and formulas and all that crap which is confusing and hard and nearly my entire science class failed our midterm test, me included, so considering exams are only three weeks away (somebody shoot me now) I'm going to have to study hard. But, during my study breaks I will be writing more on my stories. **

**Now I hope you liked this chapter although it is rather short. I had planned for it to be longer but it's currently 2:30am and even though I'm going to post it in the morning and I could finish it before I put it up I'm not going to have time as I'm going around to my friends house to hang our with friends on the last day of the four day long weekend. However when I get home I will be writing more of the next chapter and if I have time before I leave then I'll write then too.**

**Again hope you liked the chapter, R nd R. **

**~Shadow**


	7. Movie Marathons and Junk Food

**Alright It's been four weeks since I wrote the last chapter but only a week since I actually posted it. I was ¾ through this chapter when I remembered that I actually hadn't posted the last chapter…whoops. Anyways on with this chapter. **

"Um, actually Cam, we talked to your mum while you were in the shower. She knows everything that happened and when we suggested that we'd have a movie night tonight she said that it was okay for us all to have the day off tomorrow so long as we go to classes the next day and also that you go and see her at three o'clock for afternoon tea. Oh and also Mr Soloman will be up in a little while with more junk food." Macey explained.

"How much more junk food?" Cammie was almost afraid to ask, "Macey gave him a list. It was two A4 pages long. She wrote it on the way back to school."  
"Bex, we didn't need to tell her that."  
"Macey, she'd probably already guessed."  
"Well then if she'd already guessed, then there was no need to-"  
"Macey! Bex! Not the time!" They were shocked into silence when Liz raised her voice above their fighting. "Now stop arguing and fix the sleeping bags and get the movie set up, Cam and I will move the mini fridge closer to were we'll be and make sure there is enough room for the cold stuff, okay? Get it? Got it? Good."

Cammie smiled at her friends antics. She knew that she wasn't over Zach yet, no matter how much she wanted to be. But with friends like these, she'd be back to pre-Zach in no time.

Shortly after everything had been fixed up, moved and Cammie had changed into her comfiest pyjama pants and a black (neutral colour which had no connection to Zach) tank top, there was a knocking on the door. "Cammie? Bex, Macey? Liz? One of you let me in please, preferably before I drop the fizzy drinks." At the mere thought of the drink being lost Bex ran to the door and opened it swifty, expecting to see Mr Soloman struggling with an arm full of goods, but instead he stood there, looking quite at ease, holding carrier bags with the aforementioned goods safely inside.

"That wasn't funny, kids are starving in Africa and you are threatening the lives of countless potato chips."  
"Well perhaps Ms Baxter if you stopped eating so many potato chips then there might just be enough for those starving children in Africa."  
"Touché, Mr Soloman, now can we have the food already, Cammie's dying slowly from saturated fat withdrawal." The irony of Macey's words weren't lost on anyone. "Hey Macey, remember when you first got here and you said that you only ate six hundred calories a day, yeah well what happened to that by the way?" Macey threw a glare Cammie's way, making the girls laugh and Mr Solomon sigh heavily.

"Are you finished now? I'd like to talk to Cammie alone." The other girls looked to Cammie looking for confirmation that she would be okay with him. She nodded and smiled softly, "Why don't you go finish setting up, I'll be there soon." Then she walked towards her god-father/uncle and they left the room to stand in the deserted hall. Everyone was at dinner except them.

**Soloman POV (Yeah that's right, I know you wanted it :P)**

I had come up to the room with bags of junk food specifically for the girl's movie night tonight. Once the door was closed behind us I put my arms around her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. "Cammie, I'm so sorry. That was not what I had planned for today. Not at all. "

"Uncle J, it's okay. I know that you didn't mean for that to happen. I don't blame you." She pulled back slightly and I could see her face, it went from soft and sad to hard, detached and angry. "I blame him. If he hadn't come here then this never would've started. I never would've met him, never would've fallen for him-" I had to cut her off then, "Cammie, stop. You don't mean that. Uh don't interrupt me…or give me that face…and you can put that finger away as well. Now, I know that you love him. There is no denying it. And he loves you too. Anyone with two eyes can see that."

"Then how do you explain what he said at the mall. And what about what that Sean guy said, about him and that other girl? If he 'loved' me then why was he with another girl? Why would he say those things? I'll tell you why, because he doesn't love me. And I don't love him. I never could. And I never will," before I could stop her she stepped away from me, opened the door and went into her room.

**3****rd**** Person POV**

He sighed heavily rubbed his tired face with his hand. He'd sworn to protect that girl and he was doing a lousy job of it. All he did was bring her even more pain. There was only one person who could fix this…well actually there were two, but one of them was out of the question. And the first one…well, Soloman wasn't to keen on letting him near Cammie anytime soon. But he might just be the only hope they had of fixing this. He'd have to talk to Rachel.

~Back in the girls room~

Bex, Mace and Liz all turned as Cammie came back in, closing the door behind her. They saw the stony expression on her face and watched as it dropped again as Cammie leaned back against the door, and squeezed her eyes shut, dropping her head. "Cammie, what happened?" Liz asked timidly. "Nothing, he just said something that bothered me." No one needed to ask what he had said. They had all been listening into the conversation in the hall. The only reason Liz even brought it up was to try and get her friend to talk about it, well that and they'd only heard half of the conversation, but even then they could guess what Joe Soloman had said to her that would make her this upset.

Pushing off from the door Cammie went and sat down on her sleeping bag pulling the soft purple pillow from behind her, into her lap and hugging it close to her chest. Tears were still threatening to spill but she held them back, not wanting to seem more vulnerable then she already felt. Bex noticed this and sat on her knees next to her best friend.

"Cammie, we are your best friends. You don't have to hide from us. You can let it go. You don't always have to hold everything in. Not with us." She was ready for Cammie to break down. To let everything go and just give into her emotions, to just cry it out, but that's not what she did. Cammie just looked at Bex and smiled sadly. "Thank you, I know that, but if you were all hoping for some big sob fest then you should have been here about an hour and a half ago. Now are we going to watch something or just sit here discussing how much of a dip shit Zachary Goode really is?" The girls laughed and got comfortable on the sleeping bags and Macey pressed play.

By the time three am came around the girls had gone through half of the selected dvds and were high on soft drinks and lollies so basically – sugar. They'd stopped _The Prince and Me_ half way through to compare Eddie to all the guys they knew (which when you think about it, wasn't really _that_ many).

"I met a guy once who looked just like Ed did. Really hot, smooth talker, really, really charming. We flirted and I gave him my number, but then I never herd from him again. I hadn't actually thought about it until now, but maybe that was actually Prince Edvard!"Macey exclaimed before bursting into a fit of giggles. They all looked at Macey as if she had lost her mind. "Bex, how much alcohol is in those chocolates?"  
"Not a clue Cam, but even if there was like point-five percent, Macey's probably eaten enough of them since last night that she made herself drunk."

Sighing, Cammie took the seemingly endless box of chocolates from Macey's lap, replaced the lid and shoved them beneath her own pillow. "Macey. Calm. Down. Now," The giggling stopped abruptly and Macey sat up and propped her head up on her hand, with her elbow on her knee, as if nothing had happened. A few side ways glances later everyone had burst into giggles. The sugar and lack of sleep had made them insane.

**This chapter was going to be longer but then I would've had to change the title from **_**Movie Marathons and Junk Food **_**to **_**Movie Marathons, Junk Food, and Momma Bear.**_** Which is sorta too long. Although it does kinda give you a hint to what's going to happen in the next chapter.I'm not really sure how much I like this chapter. I don't think it was written the best but I'll let you guys be the judge of that. **

**Alright my exams are over (FINALLY! :D) So excited. My English Exam was probably the easiest of them all even though all the material my English teacher was having us study was irrelevant in the exam itself. I got the highest mark in my class. Science was tough but not the worst and I'm pretty sure that I passed, hopefully anyway, but if I didn't then I'll be in the same group as most of my class (at least ten people missed 1+ pages in of the exam paper) even one of the smartest kids in all the advanced classes missed a couple of questions that would've been worth about 20 marks. Sose was a breeze and Math was just a bitch. I didn't fail but I only passed by 6 percent sooo yeh. Anyways school is over now which is a relief and even though I'm going away from Wednesday to Monday I will be doing some writing while I'm shivering in the coldness of the tent, where I will be sleeping.**


	8. Planning and Heart to Hearts

**Alright, I hope you lot are happy with this exceptionally long chapter considering I wrote it in one day. I had a lot of time on my hands and I was seriously inspired. Anyways, please enjoy the chapter.**

**Planning and Heart to Hearts**

~In Ms Morgan's Office~

Soloman didn't bother knocking before entering the headmistress's office. "Rachel, we need to talk about Cammie. Now!" Rachel was standing at the mini fridge in the corner of the room getting drinks and turned around slowly.  
"Well hello to you too Joe," Abby piped up from her seat in front of the desk. Joe apologised quickly and muttered a quick hello to both the ladies in the office. "Hello Joe, now what about Cammie. What fresh hell has befallen her now? I swear to God if one more asshole hurts my daughter I will torture them in so many ways they'll wish they were dead." Rachel's voice was full of hate and venom. The logical side of her knew that Zach loved and cherished her daughter and would do anything to protect her, which was exactly what he had been attempting. But the other side of her – the protective mother bear side – was full of rage that this teenage boy was trying to play hero and in the process breaking her daughters heart.

Everything that had been said over the comms units had been recorded and forwarded back her office and she had heard everything live. When the helicopter had landed she had been standing there waiting for them but somehow Cammie had slipped past her and down to her room. When Soloman and Abby had come into her office after dismissing the girls she had been beyond livid. It had taken her forty-five minutes and a lot of curse words, in every language she knew, before she calm enough to see the logic of the situation.

Normally Rachel was a very calm person, and would always look at the logical side of things before jumping to any conclusions, but not this time. Not when it came to her daughter. She had turned into a shoot-first-ask-questions-later momma bear. "Rachel if we're going to have a civilised conversation then you are going to have to calm down." Rachel closed her eyes, rolled her shoulders and took a few deep "cleansing" breaths.

"Alright, I'm good. Now what was it you were saying? What about Cammie? I told the girls to keep her occupied and that they didn't have to go for classes tomorrow. And I'm going to have her here for lunch tomorrow so we can spend some time together and talk about what happened. I would be with her now but I know that she wouldn't want to talk to me. Or maybe she would, I don't know. I just want to give her some time alone with her friends right now." Rachel knew that Cammie needed to be with her friends, getting her mind off of the mission. But what she regretted having to do was put her mind back on it come tomorrow lunch time.

"Rachel, you didn't see Cammie's face when I mentioned Zach. It was like- like she'd lost the thing she loved most and then, a second later- it was as if she we were speaking of the person who'd taken what she loved and she wanted to kill it. Her face- there was so much pain hidden beneath the mask she put up. I promised Chris when she was born and again before he left for his last mission that I would protect her when you and- well you know who couldn't. And today I didn't. But I do plan on making it right again. I will do everything possible to make things right again, even if that means getting Zach here."

Abby turned in her seat and looked at her boyfriend. She cared about Cammie more then she would ever admit for fear that one of her many enemies would use it against her. Never had she seen Joe be so protective over someone, not even Chris. She knew that he loved her, and she loved him, even though they hadn't said the words yet, they both knew, but he hadn't been that protective about her and she couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy for Cammie. No not because of Soloman's love for Cammie, she couldn't be jealous of that. His love for her was merely the love that a father would have for his daughter. No she was jealous of his protectiveness of her. He would kill the entire US army for her should the situation call for it, and he'd die in the process, but he'd take a lot of them out before hand. But what would he do for Abby. Would he kill for her? Would he die for her? Would he be with her for as long as she needed him?

Getting up from her seat she dismissed herself, "I should get going, I have lessons to plan. Rach, e-mail me when there's a set plan on what's going to happen." Without making eye contact with Joe she left the room.

"Abby," he called as the door shut behind her. "Joe, give her time. If I know my sister like I'm damn sure I do, then she's wondering where this relationship you two have is going. She's trying to figure out how much you really care about her, if you'd go to same lengths for her that you would go to for Cammie."  
"So what you're saying is that she's jealous of my affection for Cammie. That doesn't make sense. Cammie is like a daughter to me. In a sense of the word she actually is."  
"No Joe, that's not what I'm saying. And if you ever said that to Abby she would wipe the floor with you just for thinking it. For saying it, well just think of how many cold showers you would be taking." Rachel said cheekily with a smirk. "Anyways, no. She could never be jealous of you're affection for Cammie. She's smarter then that and she's very good at reading people. But then again, so am I, so I know what's going on in her head." Joe was getting frustrated with this and he wanted to know what was going on in his girlfriends head, considering he couldn't seem to figure it out.

"Will you just tell me already?" With a humoured look and a cheeky smile, Rachel replied. "Nope, you're gonna have to figure that on out yourself. But if you so much as think of acting differently towards Cammie because of this conversation I will kill you with a stick of spaghetti, you know I can do it."  
"I wouldn't dream of it. And I've seen what you can do with spaghetti, and let me tell you it's not a pretty sight any way you go with it." Rachel glared at him and he smiled. "Alright enough insulting my cooking, we need to talk about Cammie. I was thinking that maybe we could organise and exchange between Gallagher and Blackthorn, just like last semester. I was actually discussing it with Abby before you came in. Despite the lack of conversation with my daughter since you all returned I do know what it is that she needs. And one of those things is Zach, whether she wants to believe it right now or not."

Again Joe was reluctant to get Zach involved; after all he was the one that had started this whole mess in the first place. "Why don't we wait until after you've talked to Cammie to figure out what to do? For all you know maybe we don't need to get him involved at all, maybe she just needs time."

Rachel just stared at him with a sceptical look. "Really Joe, they say that time heals all wounds but that won't work for Cammie. Time isn't what she needs. I know what she needs. I just have to figure out a way to give it to her without her realising that that's what I'm doing." Rachel sat down at her desk again and started looking through the papers on her desk. Without looking up she said, "Now why don't you go after my sister before she comes to the conclusion that you have no feelings her whatsoever?" Joe seemed to remember that there was something bothering his girlfriend, "Of course, but first I have to find her, Lord knows how long that'll take," Rachel looked up from the papers and gave him and exasperated look. "Joe, need I remind you that you are a fully trained spy, who is teaching my daughter and every other girl in this school Covert Operations? Now if you – a fully trained spy – can't find his girlfriend, then how on earth are you supposed to teach all those girls to track and find their own targets? What will you tell them if they ask you if you've ever lost someone? How will you be able to admit that in her time of need, Abby Cameron could not count on you to find her? You think about that while you're searching for her. Have fun." And without another word she returned to her work and Joe left the room. As he was closing the door behind him he stopped and turned back around.

"Rach, how did you know that there was something going on between me and Abby? Did Cammie say something?"  
"Joe, I'm a spy, a mother, sister and daughter. It's my job to know everything about the people I love and care about. Such as right now for instance, I know that my parents are currently eating a breakfast of bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast. There are also some fresh muffins cooling on the counter, blueberry. Do my parents know that I know this? Probably. Do they care? Not really, it means that I care about them and want to know that they're safe. I also know exactly where my sister is. But just like I can't tell you exactly what's wrong with her, I also can't tell you exactly where she is. Although I will tell you that she's still inside the castle."

With a grateful nod and a goodbye, Joe _finally_ left and when he didn't return five seconds later Rachel returned to her work. She'd have to talk to Cammie tomorrow and figure out how she would react to her plan.

Putting her laptop in front of her on the desk she turned it on and once it had loaded pulled up a new e-mail message.

**To: _docsteve (at )blackthorneboys (.) com  
_From:_ mamabear (at) gallaghergirls (.) com  
_Subject: Gallagher/Blackthorne Exchange No.2**

Steve,

I'm sure that you've heard what happened on the mission to the mall today and I'm sure you can also guess that I'm less then happy with some of the events that occurred. I am however happy with the way the mission it self went and I would like to propose that our school have another exchange seeing as the last one went so well. The dorms which the boys used last semester are still vacant and have actually been expanded upon. We can now take about fifty boys by the end of the first semester we should be able to accommodate approximately 125 Blackthorne students.

I propose that the boys have the opportunity apply to stay at Gallagher for; a term, a semester or the full year. This decision _is_ however up to you.

I await your reply,  
Rachel

After sending the email off she started making preparations for the boys arrival. Even though she hadn't yet gotten confirmation, she knew that Steve would say yes. They had discussed having another exchange, last year at the dance before the Code Black. Half an hour after sending her email, her computer beeped. Once. Twice. Three times? Bringing up her email she saw that she'd received an email from Steve, Abby and the last was from a certain Blackthorne boy. Smiling she opened that one first.

By the end of the email Rachel had to wipe away tears. Opening the email from Steve, she smiled in satisfaction.

**To: _mamabear (at) gallaghergirls (.) com  
_From:_ docsteve (at )blackthorneboys (.) com  
_Subject: Gallagher/Blackthorne Exchange No.2. Reply**

Rachel,

I'm so glad that you contacted me. I was just about to do the same.  
Yes, I am fully aware of what happened one the mission and I am truly sorry. I never would've expected such behaviour from Zach. I truly believed that he liked Cammie. I do hope she feels better soon, though I know it's very unlikely.

I'm very excited at the idea of another exchange and no doubt you've already started arranging for my boys to stay. You just knew I'd say yes didn't you. Haha, of course you did. I like your idea of them having the choice of staying for an extended period and I'll present the idea to them in the morning at breakfast. They can put their names down requesting to go, then I'll pick a group with varied ages and once you have a definite answer on how many you can accommodate at this present time, I'll pick the boys who can go and the rest shall simply go on the waiting list for when you have more room. How does that sound?

Right then, I look forward to this exchange very much and I hope that everyone will have as grand a time as they did last year this time.

Dr Steve

Replying quickly that it sounded like a fine idea and that she'd get a definite number by tomorrow lunch time, she then opened the last email which was from Abby. It just asked that she send her the details of the exchange so that she could accommodate her lesson schedule accordingly. Once she'd replied to her sister's email she shut off her computer and went to bed. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

**A/N I know that that was probably a lot of boring crap for a lot of you, and I apologise if you did find it boring to read. However the next half of this chapter is the heart to heart between Cammie and her mum and those of you who are shocked at Rachel's decision to host the exchange, I ask you this. Why? You really should've seen this coming. Anyways on with the second half.**

The next Morning~

**Cammie POV**

I woke up at around ten thirty to find that the girls where all still asleep and the TV had gone into auto sleep after being left idle for so long. Despite having eaten all that junk food last night I was hungry and in the mood for a cooked breakfast. Getting up I noticed that a note had been slipped under the door. I made my way carefully over the bodies of my sleeping room mates, extra careful around Bex. She was like yoda crossed with a ninja. Even when she was sleeping, if she sensed a disturbance in the force she reacted quickly, not even checking who it was before she attacked. In some cases this was a good thing, but when you've overslept and you're extra tired roommate hasn't gotten up and you go to wake her and she attacks you, yeah well I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.

Anyways, the note said simply;

**_Cam,  
meet your mum in her office at 11:30 for breakfast/lunch if you're hungry. If you're not hungry then you still have to go._**

**_Luv ya,  
Abby_**

Ah, gotta love Aunt Abby. Making my way back to my side of the room, again carefully, I grabbed some fresh clothes and went to the bathroom to get ready. Half an hour later I was showered, dressed and my hair was freshly blow dried and pulled back into a high pony tail. I scribbled a quick note for the girls, seeing as they were still asleep, and left it on the door. Closing it softly behind me, I put my shoes on and made my way to the passageway that would lead to the painting just down the hall from my mother's office. Passage ways were a god send when you needed to get somewhere quickly and didn't have time to waste. Even though I half an hour early I didn't feel like the long walk, and was looking forward to spending time with mum. Even though I knew that the main topic of conversation would be what happened yesterday on the mission.

When I got to mum's office I stopped outside the door and listened for a minute, just to make sure that she wasn't with anyone. I didn't hear anything at first, but then as I was about to turn the push down the handle and open the door I heard my mum talking.

_"That'd be great Steve….Of course we can have the dorms set up and ready for tonight if need be….No of course not, even though I'm sure the boys would be excited I doubt the girls would be impressed if I gave them less then ample time to get themselves presentable…(laugh laugh)…alright then, so Thursday….Great. I'll tell them tonight at dinner. That'll give them suitable time to prepare for the arrival of your boys..."_

I couldn't listen to anymore. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door.

_"Oh Steve that must be Cammie, hm, she's early…Yes I'm going to tell her today….I know…Hopefully she doesn't take the news too badly…anyways I really have to go. I'll talk to you later…Yes…goodbye."_

I heard the click of the phone being set back in its cradle and then, "Come in!" I opened the door timidly, and smiled at her through the crack. In the three seconds between mum saying goodbye and telling me to come in, I'd decided that I would just play it cool and let her bring it up. I wouldn't question her about it until she said something, unless it got to the end of our lunch and she hadn't said anything, and then I would ask her.

"Hey mom," I wasn't sure why I hadn't opened the door fully yet. It was like I was waiting for permission to enter. "Come in darling. There's no one in here. Just us," her smile comforted me enough to chill out a little bit and open the door the rest of the way. I tried to keep my cool façade even though inside I was freaking out. What did she mean when she said that the accommodation would be ready by Thursday? And telling everyone tonight so that we had time to get ready for the boys? _Wait for it._ Oh SHIT! _Careful Sherlock Holmes, you're sudden realisation just made your eyes widen a bit. _Seriously, how do you know that? You're in my head. _Yeah well, that's how I know genius. I'm conscious of everything that goes on in your body._ Really? Ew._ Grow up. Now stopped making those faces your mums looking at you weird. _

I looked up at my mum quickly and forced the panicked look from my face at the realisation that the boys were coming back. "Hey mom, am I early?" She smiled worriedly at me for a second before coming over to me and putting an arm around my shoulder, leading me to the couch near the window. "Just a little, but that's okay, gives us more time to talk. Before we get into it though what do you want to eat? Are you even hungry? Joe told me about the extensive list of food Bex had him bring up to you girls." Remembering all the food we'd eaten only made me hungrier and my stomach growled loudly.

"I think I might be, just a little bit." Mom laughed and shook her head. "That's fine, what are you in the mood for? Have you had breakfast?" I shook my head 'no'. "Alright, how about some pancakes? Or maybe you'd prefer bacon and hash browns. I don't care it's up to you." I thought over it for a second, mulling over my options. "How about some pancakes with vanilla ice cream, with a side of bacon and hash browns. For some reason I'm feeling especially hungry today." She merely nodded in understanding and I was glad that she didn't question my hunger, because honestly I wasn't able to explain it either. Usually I don't eat that much, well compared to normal girls I would but compared to some of the girls here I didn't eat a lot. "And what would you like to drink?" Oh so many options, thick shake? Juice? Water? Milk? Coke? _WTF? Coke? For breakfast? What the hell is wrong with you?_ Shut up I'm hungry. _But still, coke? It's not even twelve._ You make it sound as if I'm asking for a bottle of brandy. _Insert massive eye roll here._ I refrained from rolling my own eyes at myself. I mean seriously how weird would that look.

"Ummm, how about a thick shake?" Then as an after thought, "Mint choc chip." Mom raised her eye brow but the amused look never left her face. After calling the kitchen quickly and asking them to send the food up she came back to the couches. "Food will be here in about half an hour. So…do you want to talk about what happened yesterday?" I thought about it for a minute. Did I really want to? I mean, I'd sort of talked to the girls but that was more of a; He's a total douche bag for doing that to you, kind of talk. And the same with Uncle Joe, our talk had been more of a; you still like him and he loves you no matter what you think, sort of thing. Maybe mum could give me a different perspective on the situation. "Yeah, maybe I should. I mean I kind of talked to Uncle Jay and the girls but they were the god-father and best friend versions. I need the mom version." She looked down at her hands, "You know that the "mom version" might not be all you want it to be. Some things might be included in the mom version that you won't like. Are you sure you want me to give you that?" I knew what she was asking, and I also knew what my answer was going to be, but still I stopped. I hesitated before I answered. Was I really sure of what I wanted? I mean I've wanted to get all the answers for so long now and now that mom might open my eyes to some of the answers I've been looking for, that have always been there and I just couldn't see them, did I really want them. Maybe I should just stay where I am, and keep hating Zach for making me fall for him and then throwing it back in my face.

"Yeh, I'm sure. I need you to," screw staying where I am. I don't want to hate Zach, I just want to get over him and ignore him. "Alright then, first of all, lets get comfortable, this could take awhile." Then she took off her shoes and kicked them under the coffee table, I did the same and she pulled the quilt, which was folded nicely over the back the couch, and threw it over the both of us. We were sitting next to each other, she was leaning against the arm, stretched out across the length of the couch and I was snuggled into her side also stretched out across the couch. We hadn't sat like this since the night we found out that dad wasn't coming home.

"Alright, are you comfy?" Mum asked me and I felt like a little kid again. I looked up at her with a child like smile on my face. "Yeah," she nodded again, and it felt like the thousandth time that she'd nodded since I'd walked into the room, how did her neck handle it? _Focus Cammie._ Right. "Alright Cam, I've read Abby's mission report, and Joe's. I've heard every version that matters except for yours. So why don't you tell me what happened?" I knew that this time would come. The time when I would have to retell what had happened. Now that I think about it, I feel kind of silly. Back then when I thought about it, I felt like I was going to have to tell the story of some kind of horrific accident, where all these people had died, and now that I think about it, all it really is, is the story of a girl, who thought that she'd found this great guy, and he turned out to be a jerk. And just that realisation made it easier to tell mom what happened.

"…And it felt as if he'd ripped my heart out and then did the Mexican hat dance on it. I haven't felt like that since the night that…." I didn't finish my sentence, and I didn't have too. Mom knew what I meant, and she remembered that night well. She'd cried a million more tears then I had that night. And she had cried more after she thought that I was asleep. "I felt like I could've died right there. And then, like he _knew_ that I was there, he turned around and stared at me. I hate that he saw me so vulnerable. I didn't throw the mask up fast enough. I should've put it up before he turned around." Mum stroked my hair soothingly. "Oh baby, you should never berate yourself for letting someone you care about see you weak or vulnerable. I used to do that with your father all the time. I don't know if Abby told you the story of when we were in high school, when we met your father and Joe and Zach's dad-"  
I cut her off, "Wait, did you say Zach's dad? Brian is Zach's dad? Sorry I probably should have put the pieces together. I mean she mentioned Zach's mum but I thought that maybe she went off and married some other guy."

"No, Brian is, or was, Zach's dad. And yes, you're father and Joe were very good friends with him. They were the best of friends. Actually after your dad and Joe stopped being partners your dad partnered up with Brian. He used to be partnered up with his wife Sally but when she became pregnant with Zach she stopped going on missions." Sally, that's a pretty name. "I became pregnant with you when she was about seven months along and when your dad was away on missions I'd go and spend the day with her and Zach. They were actually there when you were born." Zach was there when I was born?

"Zach was there when I was born?" I knew that my voice sound panicked and maybe a little squeaky. "Yes Cam, well he wasn't there as you were being born but he was there with Sally through out the whole thing up until I went into the delivery room. They very nearly would've had to go in there with me and hold my hand if your dad hadn't showed up when he did." I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Zach had been there when I was born, he'd been there, in the hospital, and with my mum through out most of the labour. Even if he'd only been a baby at the time, he was still there. "By the time he was seven months he was already walking, it was amazing,"  
"He's Goode," I whispered, mostly to myself, but mum must've caught it because her hand stilled on my hand for a second before she kissed my hair lightly then continued stroking. "Yeah, he is. Anyways, once you were all cleaned up and we were allowed visitors he practically ran into the room. Sally had to catch him before he fell over. Then when she didn't put him down he kept trying to jump out of her arms to get to the bed where you were with me. She put him on the bed and I put and next to me and slid over so you two would have more room, and he crawled up next to and just lay there beside you. He put his arm around you and stared at you for the longest time. It was so cute and probably one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen. I think we have a photo or a video some where, maybe both." She seemed to get lost in thought for a moment and I tried to wrap my head around everything she'd said.

"Anyways, back in high school, when I first met your dad, he was the first guy that I'd had a guy/girl moving towards girlfriend/boyfriend sort of relationship with," I wanted to know more about the day I was born and with Zach but I didn't want to ruin my mom's walk down memory lane, she had a smile on her face as she remembered dad and I didn't want to risk taking that smile away just because I wanted to know more about my past with Zach. "I didn't trust him, I'd been trained not to trust anyone, only the people that I knew, without a shadow of a doubt that I could. And when I first met him he was so cocky, and arrogant, and such a jerk, but there was this quality about him that just, made him so charming and drew me in."

"Like with me and Zach?"  
"Yeah, like with you and Zach. You know when I first saw you two; I had a sudden sense of déjà vu. It felt like I was looking back into the past at myself." I couldn't help smiling when she said that, even though I was so sure that I shouldn't be. "But soon enough, he got me to trust him, it was small things at first, being there when I needed someone to talk to, saving me a seat at meals. Then when he knew he'd earned my trust he started giving me gifts. I came back to my dorm one time to find a red rose stuck to the door with a card attached to it. It was asking me to meet him at the gardens at ten minutes to midnight. And he told me specifically not to be late, even underlined it and made it bold. It turned out that there were flowers in the garden that bloomed only at midnight. He'd set up a blanket in front of a big bush of flowers and we just sat there talking for a little until he stopped and motioned for me to be silent. I nearly had a heart attack, I thought we were about to be attacked or something, but when I looked all I saw was this bush full of flowers starting to bloom. It was so beautiful. That was when I fully started to trust him." Tears where pouring down my cheeks as she told me the story of her and dad. I'd been down to the garden so many times but I'd never seen that bush of flowers. They must've died or been pulled up at some point before I got to Gallagher. "Mum that story was amazing, but…" I wasn't sure how to finish, thankfully she finished for me. "How does it relate to you and Zach?" I nodded.

"Cammie, I know it's hard for you to believe this but Zach truly does care about you. Try and look at the situation from his point of view. You're in love with this boy, -don't give me that face Cameron – you're in love with this boy. He's a spy, same as you are, and you know that he can take care of himself. You learn that there's a new threat to everyone's lives, yours especially. You know that they'll use anything against you, too get what they want. You. This boy, you would go to the ends of the earth for him. What if they learnt that information? What if they kidnapped him so that they could get to you? Not only are you in danger but so is he. So what would you do?" When she didn't continue I realised that she wanted me to answer.

"I would do anything I could to protect him. Anything to make sure that he was safe," _even if that meant leaving?_ Yes, even if it meant leaving. "So do you see now? Zach wasn't trying to hurt you. He wanted to protect you. He knows something, I'm not sure what, but he does. I know you're hurting still, but try not to hold Zach's protective nature against him." Then a sly grin crossed her face and she added, "But don't make things easy on him." This confused me more then anything else we'd talked about. "But mum, when exactly am I going to see him again, let alone get the chance to actually have a conversation with him?" Her grin faded and she took a deep breath. "Well sweety, that's the other thing that we needed to discuss. Now I'm going to be telling everyone at dinner tonight but you deserve to know first. The Blackthorne boys will be arriving two days from now, Thursday. The accommodation they had last year has been expanded and will be expanded again. By the end of the first semester we'll be able to take about one-hundred and twenty-five boys and based on their behaviour, some of them will have the chance to stay the rest of the year." I felt my stony mask going back up. "Cammie please, I know that you don't want him here now but maybe when you see him things will change."

I ignored what she said and got up from the couch and started to put my shoes on, "So is that what you and Dr Steve were talking about? Them, _him,_ coming here? Does he even know what happened? Of course he does, he probably commended Zach for his wonderful performance." Mom was about to say something but I glared at her. "I don't care what you or Soloman say, mom. Zach doesn't care what happens to me. He never did. All this was to him was a game. Something to keep him entertained while he was here. He said so himself, and nothing you or anyone else say can make me believe otherwise." Without even saying good bye I ran out of the room, slamming the door behind me. I could hear my mum shouting after me but I ignored her and disappeared down a secret passageway. After making countless turns and going through countless passageways, I ended up where I wanted to be. It wouldn't have taken me this long if I'd just taken then direct route but I'd wanted to throw off anyone who might've been following me.

I collapsed onto the couch that Abby and I had sat on when she told me about her and Soloman. My internal clock told me that it was two thirty. I remembered the breakfast I'd eaten a few hours ago and I was feeling hungry again. Looking around the room I noticed a few things that I hadn't previously. Behind the TV was a hidden door. Getting up from the couch I made my way over there and slowly opened it about an inch. Looking through the crack I saw that it was a small kitchen. I pushed the door open the rest of the way and took another look around. It was a pretty basic kitchen. A fridge/freezer was against the left wall with benches to both sides. On the bench to the left of the fridge was a microwave oven. There was a kettle next to that and in the cupboards below were plates, bowls, cups. In the draws was the basic stuff you'd find, forks, knives, spoons, straws. There were more cupboards on the other side of the fridge and I went through, only to be shocked by what I saw.

They were full of food. Bags of chips, cookies, marshmallows, chocolate, lollies, it was like a kids dream kitchen. There was also powder for hot chocolate. Looking in the fridge there was; soft drinks, bottles of water, fruit that was somehow not off, which raised the next question. Who keeps this stuff stocked? "The kitchen staff." A voice said from behind me. "Argh!" Spinning around I saw that it was my Aunt Abby. "Jesus Christ! What the hell were you thinking? You scared the crap out of me!" I knew it was my fault that I hadn't realised that she was there, but I was still recovering from the mini heart attack to care much. "I know kiddo, I'm sorry. When you disappeared you're mom called me and asked me if I knew where you were. Luckily for her I was already where I knew you'd go. I've been here since last night." I stared at her dumbfounded. She'd been here all night. Mum called her. She knew that I'd come here. "Why were you here all night? And how'd you know that I'd come here instead of going back to my room." Now it was her turn to look uncomfortable.

"Well last night I started getting a little bit confused about my relationship with Joe and I needed a place to hide that he didn't know about. And I figured that with your conversation with your mom today, and then you'd be on your way here also. I know you wanted to talk to your mom about Zach, and I know that the Blackthorne Boys are getting here on Thursday, which considering they're only two hours away seems like a bit of overkill." I laughed. "I reckon, it's not like they're coming from Siberia." She wrapped an arm around my shoulder and brought me into her side. "I know. So how are you doing? Rachel said she told you about when you were born, and about her and your dad. She also mentioned something about you and Zach getting back together."

"Yes to everything up to the last part, which is just a sort of. I know that I went to her for the mom talk, and I did get it which I'm glad because now I can see it from his supposed point of view. It's just that it still hurts. And even if I did believe that he was trying to protect me by breaking me, then I don't know if I'd be able to get past what he said anytime soon. And they're coming in two days, and I'm going to be seeing him, everyday. And I'm going to have to act as if I don't care, as if him being there doesn't bother me." She hugged me tight and I buried my face in her shoulder. "Cam, I know that this is going to be hard. And I know that seeing him is going to be a real test on your abilities as a spy. But don't think for one second that if you need to come down here and just hide away from the world until you're ready to face it again, that I, your mom, or Joe would stop you. We care about you _so_ much and we want to you to feel like if you can't handle it then you can come to us. We know you have your friends, and they'll get you through some of the hardest times in your life, but you've also got us. Alright?" I nodded into her should and she squeezed me tightly for a second before pulling away. "Now how about this, you go and get your friends and bring them down here, and then when you get back I'll have a movie set up, with hot chocolate and ice cream."

I smiled at her and said three words before running off to the passageway and then to the dorm room to get my friends. "Best. Aunt. Ever!"

~Back at the girls dorm~

When I burst through the door to our dorm at three o'clock the girls turned to look at me panicked. Liz was the first to tackle me in a hug. "Oh Cammie! I'm so glad that you're alright. Your mum came down here all worried and she couldn't find you, and, and…"  
"Liz, calm down. I'm fine. I just had to get away for a little while. I'm fine though. I promise you." Liz finally detached herself from me and moved back. I took a second to breath only to be tackled to the ground in another hug, but this time by two people. "Ah! Seriously guys, what is this?"  
"Do you have any idea how scared we were? Your mum told us not to leave the dorm in case you came back and she has Mr Soloman looking for you and, we thought that you'd left the mansion and that maybe you'd gone into town. And Lord knows what could've happened there. I mean considering the last time you snuck out to go to town you broke up with Josh, got "kidnapped" and he ended up driving a forklift through the wall and nearly spearing our Cove Ops teacher."

I'd never heard Bex get so worked up about something and hearing it now shocked me into silence. That was until Macey piped up. "Cammie what'd your mum say to that made you leave? She wouldn't tell us exactly, just that it had to do with Zach and what he did." They finally let go of me and Bex pulled me to my feet. "Guys don't worry about it. How ever Aunt Abby wants you guys to come with me, and be prepared, she has hot chocolate." With a smile I left the room. I didn't have to look behind me to know that they were following me. Exactly seven minutes and twenty two seconds later we walked into Gillian's Library to find the TV set up the lights down low and Aunt Abby waiting with a tray full of hot mugs of hot chocolate and a bag of mini marshmallows, and sitting on the coffee table were tubs a ice cream.

"Come on girls, the movies already in and I don't want for your hot chocolate to get cold." We all found ourselves seats and as soon as we were comfortable Abby came around with the tray and gave us each a mug. We all grabbed a handful of mini marshmallows for our drinks. After she'd sat down, we started the movie. The starting credits started and we immediately knew which movie. 10 Things I Hate About You, was my all time favourite movie. When Heath Ledger died I watched all of his movies.

When the prom scene came up I nearly cried. I brought another spoonful of mint choc chip ice cream to my lips. _"You were paid to take me out? By the one person I truly hate. I knew this was a set up!" _I felt like Kat and I had a lot in common. She fell for the bad boy. The boy she'd never given a second thought to (even though he was uncontrollably _hot_). And I fell for…Zach. I never would've even looked at him side ways before the museum. Then he just _had_ to follow me around during his stay at Gallagher. He had to pretend to be my boyfriend when we ran into Josh and DeeDee. He had to kiss me before he left.

I put the nearly empty ice cream bucket on the floor next to my empty mug and sat unmoving for the last ten minutes of the movie. When Kat read her poem I started making comparisons between what she "hated" about Patrick and what I "hated" about Zach.

I hate the way you talk to me  
and the way you cut your hair  
I hate the way you drive my car  
I hate it when you stare  
I hate your big old combat boots  
and the way you read my mind  
I hate you so much it makes me sick  
it even makes me rhyme  
I hate it when you're not around  
and the fact that you didn't call  
but mostly I hate the way that I don't hate you  
Not even a little bit  
not even at all.

I hated it how Zach talked to me sometimes, all patronizing and sometimes even condescending. I couldn't hate his hair, not even if I wanted to. Don't know what his driving is like. I definitely hate it when he stares at me. His combat boots are _way_ too shiny and clean. His mind reading is one of the biggest thorns in my side. It's a good thing he can't do it all the time. Over the summer I'd felt so…lonely, and I hoped every day that he'd call, or I'd wake up and find a note from him on my pillow case or my window sill…or something. But every morning I woke up disappointed.

When the parking lot scene came up I felt like putting the remaining ice cream on my spoon and flicking it at the screen. Things like that didn't happen in real life. I real life the hero of the movie didn't make things right. He left the heroine heart broken and crying. In real life they didn't start kissing in the parking lot. Bex, who was seated beside me, looked at me worriedly. I shook my head and put on a fake smile, trying to convince her that I was okay. She rubbed patted my leg comfortingly and gave me a small smile. She was telling me that she knew I wasn't okay, but that I would be soon if she had anything to say about it.

The movie was over and we helped Aunt Abby clean the mugs and spoons and dumped the rubbish in the trash. When I asked her how many people knew about the room she said, "Only me, your mum, you, two of the kitchen staff, and now the girls. Your mum and I found this place way back when we were in high school."  
"Did Sally know about it too?" She smiled in memory of her friend. "Yeah, Sal knew. She loved coming down here. This was like the place where if you could find us, this is where we'd be. On Fridays we could disappear after class, and come down here. No one would see us again until Monday morning. I'm sure that the headmistress knew about the library also, and she knew where we were, but she never said anything about. Never questioned us, no she left that up to our class mates. No one else ever figured out where we went. They tried following us but we never went the direct route unless it was an emergency. We'd always go down a number of different passageways until we were sure that who ever was following us had been lost." Like I had this morning when I'd wanted to get down here. I was sure that mum would've followed me.

"Does mum know that I know about this place?" Abby thought about it for a second before answering. "I don't know. I haven't told her yet, and if you don't want me too then I won't, but I'm sure she knew that you'd find this place eventually. Now if you suddenly disappear for days on end then she's going to know where you are for sure." I smiled again. I could always count on Aunt Abby. "Thanks Abs, for now can we keep my knowing about this place just between us. I don't want her to think that every time I disappear I'm in here. It'll make finding me _way_ too easy." She laughed. "Of course, now I think it's time for you guys to go get ready for dinner. You're moms going to announce that the boys are coming and you won't want to miss their reactions."

So we left and went back up to our rooms. The whole way there the girls and I were talking about how cool the room was and they promised not to say anything to anyone. It was just our secret. When we got down to dinner all the girls who were on the mission looked at my sympathetically and I smiled at them telling them both "Thank you," and "I'm fine." Mum looked at me as well and I gave her a simple nod telling her that I was okay. Her eyes flicked to Abby and I nodded ever so slightly again. When Mom stepped up to the podium everyone went silent. The last time she had gone up to the podium at the beginning of term was tell us about the boys' arrival, now it was to tell us that they were coming.

"Ladies, it's so good to see you here tonight and I hope that you all had a wonderful day in classes. Now I have an announcement to make. I'm sure that all of you save for our newest students, remember the exchange we had last year with The Blackthorne Institute for Boys. Well Dr Steve and I have agreed that because of the success of last years exchange, we should have another one." The dining hall erupted in squeals of excitement. I hadn't told Bex, Liz or Macey and they were just as excited. Well not so much Macey, she was kind of indifferent. Bex and Lis on the other hand couldn't wait to see Grant and Jonas, and for that I couldn't blame them. Macey looked at me and raised and eyebrow, asking if I knew. I flicked my eyes to the ceiling, then to the floor, and again to the ceiling.

"QUIET!" She waited for silence before continuing. "Now I understand that you are all very excited. Now comes for the second bit of news. The boys were supposed to arrive two days from now on Thursday night. However the seemed to be a bit of flooding in the Junior boys dorm and Dr Steve has asked if some of his boys could come earlier. So tomorrow morning, joining us for breakfast will be fifty Blackthorne boys. By the end of the semester we should be able house one hundred and twenty five boys. They will also have the option of stay for the rest of the year. By the beginning of Semester two we are hoping that we will be able to accommodate for _every_ Blackthorne student."

I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. They would be coming early? I'd barely gotten over the fact that they would be coming at all and now they're coming early. I don't think I'll be able to handle this. _Maybe Zach's not even coming._ Oh get real. He would just love for a chance to rub it in my face that he played me like a piano. He'd probably come so that he could find some other girl to use. _But why would he? He's not that kind of guy and you know that. _I think it's been made perfectly clear that I don't know anything about Zachary Goode, let alone what exactly he would or would not do. _You're not going to listen to a thing I say are you?_ You're a voice in my head, what the hell do you think.

Bex nudged me in the side and a looked up from the table top. It was only then that I realised that I had been glaring daggers at the table through out my mom's speech. "Cammie are you okay?" I tried to smile reassuringly at her but the reflection in suit of armour behind her showed me that my smile was more of a grimace. Instead I decided to try for verbal reassurance. "Yeah, Bex, I'm okay. A little surprised, considering I thought that they were showing up on Thursday but other then that I'm okay," I would've promised her in an effort to give more reassurance but I knew that I would be lying to her more then I was. I've lied about enough these past few years, no need to add to it more.

I knew that they could see past it all, but they let it drop anyways. "Alright, if you say so," Macey said, her words coated with generous layer of scepticism. Dinner was soon served and I ate quickly, so that I could escape from the constant babble of the girls around me. There was one big topic: The Blackthorne Boys. Then there were a bunch of little topics that connected to that one big topic, like; what lipstick to wear? Straight hair or leave it curly? And more pointless questions like that that in the end wouldn't _really_ matter. I walked quickly down the hall and checking that no one was around, I slipped behind a banner that hung on the wall.

I hadn't used this passageway since before we left for the summer and the cobwebs and dust had built up again. _You know that you can't keep running away from all of your problems?_ I'm not running away. I'm regrouping._ Call it whatever you like, but as soon as Zach walks through those doors at breakfast tomorrow morning you're going to want to run. And you can't. You can't show him how much he's affected you._ God, how many times did that annoying voice have to change teams? Seriously what team are you on? Earlier you were telling me that Zach was just trying to protect me from the invisible men that are planning on doing what ever the hell it is that they're doing, and now you're telling me that I should just ignore him, not even acknowledge his existence? What is that?_ That is me being a good voice-in-your-head. I know how much he hurt you remember. And I also know that you aren't about to listen to any kind of reason at them moment when it comes to him. So I've decided that so long as I'm giving you advice that will keep you away from him for a little while then I can keep you out of some form of trouble that you would be getting into otherwise._ Alright I'll give you that.

The voice seemed to stop talking to me. God that's such a weird sentence, it made me sound seriously crazy. Good thing no one could read my mind. Well not yet anyway. At the rate Mr Fibbs was going with his inventions spies would be reading other spies minds before the end of 2012, although I'm really going to hope not, because _that_ would be very, very bad. I finally saw the end of the passageway. This passageway led to the outside of the mansion, though you were still inside the walls surrounding the perimeter, so it wasn't so much an escape from the mansion grounds but just a shortcut to the outside. When I exited the passageway I was on the north-west corner of the school grounds. Twenty metres from where I exited there was a tall tree standing on it's own. When you climbed up and sat on the fifth branch up on the side facing east, you could see the road leading up the mansion. If you went higher you could see the town in the distance and with our trained spy sight we would be able to see any cars leaving via any of the roads leading out of towns. Seeing their number plates would require binoculars of course, not even the best spies could see _that_ well without some kind of assistance.

I got lost in my thoughts. Thoughts about all those times that I'd gone into Roseville, the time I'd spent with Josh, the gazebo, if I squinted really hard then I could see top of the gazebo from where I sat. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice the moon rising high in the sky till it was right above. The time must've been around twelve but I checked my phone just to be sure. It was twelve thirty-five. The sound of an engine in the distance made me look to the road. I saw a pair of headlights in the distance, and they were coming up the road, the road that only led to the school gates and nothing else. The light from the moon illuminated the area enough that I could make out the outline of a van. No not _a_ van, three vans, one behind the other in a convoy. They were black and unmarked except for the emblem on the side. Blackthorne Institute for Boys. They were here.

**And there you have it. This is probably the longest chapter I've written in a very long time. It's fifteen pages and nearly ninety-eight hundred words( well that's what Microsoft Word says, the document thing on FanFic says that i'm on ten thousand one-hundred and something words). That's a lot. And I wrote it in the span of a day and a half to two days which I'm quite proud of myself for btw. Got back from camp yesterday and I would've posted this chapter then but I wanted to read through it again and make sure it was how I wanted it to be. Anyways, I'm soon on the way to my sister house for a night full of movies then tomorrow we're going to the Galleria (not a museum but a shopping mall) where we're going to see Eclipse then walk around and maybe get lunch and stuff. So yes, I hope you all really liked this chapter because I sure as hell did. It was probably one of my favourite to write. **

**Oh and thank you to everyone who has reviewed _I Spy_. Seeing all those review alerts in my inbox when I wake up in the morning seriously makes my day and makes me want to write even more for you guys. Not only because I love those alerts but also because this is quickly turning into one of my favourite stories I've written, tying with my others _Visions of Death_ and _New Lives_. So again thank you all and I hope you enjoyed this super long chapter.**

**~Shadow Wolfe**


	9. The Boys Are Back In Town

**I'm really sorry that it's taken so long to get this chapter up. Although I would like to point out too a few people that my life doesn't revolve around this story. A few people have taken it upon themselves to try and dictate when I should be updating. Well guess what, I have other stories that need updating, as well as a novel to write. I also have a life outside of fanfiction, such as school, friends, having some kind of free time to just sit and chill. And I don't always have a lot of time to write, certain people in some of my classes decided to point out that we weren't getting enough homework, and when this was brought to my teachers' attention they decided that they should give us more, thank you Amy! So I'm sorry for those of you who have waited patiently for this chapter, but could everyone please remember that a lot of writers here have other priorities in their lives and sometimes they have to prioritize which stories they're going to write for, also they have to be in the mood. **

**Now on a lighter note, please enjoy this story because I certainly enjoyed writing it. **

**Song for this chapter is: The Boys are Back in Town by **_**Thin Lizzy**_**.**

**The Boys Are Back In Town**

The sound of an engine in the distance made me look to the road. I saw a pair of headlights in the distance, and they were coming up the road, the road that only led to the school gates and nothing else. The light from the moon illuminated the area enough that I could make out the outline of a van. No not _a_ van, three vans, one behind the other in a convoy. They were black and unmarked except for the emblem on the side. Blackthorne Institute for Boys. They were here. Just as the gates opened I dropped down from the tree and landed on my feet in a crouch. The vans started moving through the gates and I made my way quickly towards another passageway entrance. This one led to a staircase which led to my floor. The entrance was hidden from plain sight. Over grown vines and ivy that clung to the wall hid the hole in the wall. There was a long stretch of ivy down the wall so that that one section didn't stand out and give away the entrance.

I finally got up to my room after what seemed like hours but was probably only minutes. I opened the door quickly but quietly, knowing that my friends would have just gone to sleep, not bothering to wait up for me. I had disappeared for the night enough times that they stopped freaking out about where I had been, unless of course I wasn't there in the morning, and then they send out the search parties. Just as I'd thought they were already asleep and tucked into bed. I rushed to the window and pulled back the curtain enough so that I could see out. Our window looked out to the entrance of the school. The vans had finished coming through the gates and the boys were starting to line up at the steps leading to the large double doors. I could see my mum standing at the top of the stairs and knew that she was probably giving them a speech or telling them the rules or something.

I scanned the crowd. I saw Grant and Jonas and a few of the other boys from the mission a few days ago. A few of them were missing, Zach in particular. Not that I was looking for him of course. There was a sudden movement and my eyes flashed to it. Zach was looking up at my window and staring straight at me. His eyes were nearly unreadable but I could've sworn that I saw a glint of regret. _Regret about what exactly?_ Probably about coming here, agreeing to be here. He's probably waiting for the opportunity to turn and run from the school grounds. _If he was going to escape then he wouldn't be running._ Oh shut up. I moved back from the window letting the curtain fall back into place. I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my gut. I didn't know what it was trying to tell me, just that I didn't like it.

I tried to ignore the urge to leave the room and go down the flights of stairs and empty hallways until I reached the entry hall where the boys were undoubtedly getting told the rules and being directed to their rooms. It was one twenty-eight and I knew that we would be having an early rise tomorrow morning. As I changed into my pajamas I noticed some napotine patches on the bed spread that must've fallen out of the pocket on my jeans when I'd thrown them on the bed. I always had two dozen of these spread about somewhere in whatever outfit I was wearing, you know, just in case. And at that moment I actually had to physically stop myself from just taking one of those small square patches and placing it on my arm or forehead just so I could get some sleep. Quickly I shoved the patches back into the pocket and threw the jeans onto the floor at the end of my bed. Pulling back the covers slightly before sliding under them, shivering slightly from the coldness of the sheets, I tried to let sleep over take me. I must've tossed and turned for an hour before I finally slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

I groaned as I was drawn out of unconsciousness by the sound of stomping feet, blow dryers and the slamming of doors. I didn't understand why it was so loud. We were never this loud when we were getting ready in the morning. "Argh, someone hit the mute button…or kill me, whichever is faster, please," I moaned drawing out the "e" in please. The noise didn't decrease and I didn't find myself staring into a bright light. In fact when I opened my eyes, there was barely any light at all. Sitting up I surveyed the room; wardrobe doors were open, clothes scattered all around the room, the lamp on Macey's bedside table was turned on, the bathroom door was closed but light was shining through from the crack between the bottom of the door and the floor.

I got up quietly from my bed and crept over to the bathroom door. Pressing my ear lightly against the door I could hear my friends talking.

"_We've gotta make Cam look __**super**__ hot today, and every day that they're here." –_ Macey of course_  
_"But she looks hot every day." – aww thanks Liz.  
_"Yes, but that is beside the point. There is no one denying that she's hot, but,"_ ah the inevitable 'but', _"If Zach is going to realize what a gigantic mistake he made then he need to make him see another side of hotness in here that he didn't see before."_ Huh?  
**"Oh, you mean the 'sexy-vixen' side?"**  
_"Yes, Bex. Very good, I've taught you well young grasshopper."_ I think now would be a good time to interrupt.

Opening the door and pushing it open I looked at the semi-surprised looks on my friends faces. "Alright, as great as that all sounds, I'm not going to become some kind of…fake Barbie doll so that Zach may, just may regret breaking up with me, yeah, it's not going to happen. However if you feel the need to make me look 'hot' so that I can find some other guy who isn't a complete jerk then do feel free." I knew that they would've made me up whether I wanted them too or not. And they were going to try and make Zach realize whatever it is that they wanted him too. So I figured that if they were going to make me up, they might as well do it for my reasons. _Ahuh suuuure, you keep believing that then._ Oh shut up! Seriously you are starting to get on my **last** nerve.

Macey looked excited at the prospect of turning me into her own personal Barbie doll. "Alright all of you out so that I can take a shower. We're going into town today." Mum had decided to let us all go to the town today for the boys' first day back, you know, get used to being in Roseville again. Or that would've been a good excuse if we were a normal school. But we're not, we're a school for spies, mom probably had an ulterior motive. As I showered I thought about all the things that could happen today. I have to say, thinking about everything that could go wrong; I could run into Josh, I could run into Josh while he's with Deedee, Dillon could try and give one of our girls a hard time – and fail, Zach could do something to Josh, Zach could do something stupid – period. It all just , made me kind of panicked that something really would happen. Something bad.

* * *

Macey had wanted us to make an entrance, but I had – somewhat kindly – explained to her that if we were late for breakfast then my mom would most likely skin us alive. Not literally of course but if my mom could kill someone with a piece of uncooked spaghetti then I don't doubt she could've skinned us all. Actually that sounds kind of disturbing, graphic and all around creepy, also not something that you want to be thinking about right before breakfast.

Pushing the disturbing thoughts aside the four of us entered the dining hall and quickly took our seats. Mom gave me a look which clearly said that we were cutting it close. The boys were about to make _their_ grand entrance. We moved quickly to our seats and waited for the doors to open. I pulled my iPod touch out of my pocket and switched it to camera view. Liz had made a bunch of new applications for us to use. Not gaming types of apps, but spy apps. The one that I was using gave me a direct connection to all the mini cams that we had around the mansion. But the one that I was looking for was the one that we'd set up right outside the dining hall doors.

The Blackthorne boys were lined up outside the doors. I tried to scan the crowd for the face that I'd hoped against hope wouldn't be there but I couldn't see him. I almost let out a sigh of relief but it got stuck in my throat as the doors opened. There was a crowd of boys all in casual clothes. "Girls, please stand and welcome our guests." Reluctantly I stood and tried to keep myself from scanning the crowd, keep myself from checking for his face. I averted my eyes and looked at the wall across the room. "Cammie, I can't see him…wait, there he is. Oh doesn't he look fine." I turned in shock and looked at her. "What? Bex!"

"What? Oh, chill out. I was talking about Grant, did you see him, and he looks so hot!" I sighed and shook my head, muttering about how crazy my friends were. "Well, hello there pretty lady, have we met before?" I turned to the direction of the voice and saw that it was Grant who had spoken. "Do you say that to all the girls?" She smiled flirtatiously. Taking a glance at Liz I saw that Jonas had been quick to make his way over to her as well. The only one who was missing from the trio was _him._ "Hey, Gallagher Girl," He spoke from behind me, _I guess you spoke too soon, huh? _Again, shut up, we have bigger issues then my making premature assumptions. _I'm just saying that you assumed that he'd be coming from in front of you, so therefore it makes sense that he would come at you from behind, you know, just to throw you off._ Again, I'll say it, shut up.

Mum told us to take our seats and everyone sat, most of the Blackthorne boys sat at a empty table at the opposite end of the room, while some sat with the girls they'd been friends with when they were here last semester. I hoped that Zach would decide to go and sit with his friends on the other side of the room but instead I heard the chair scrape against the floor beside me. I didn't need to look to see who was burning holes into the side of my head. "You don't look horrible," I gritted my teeth as he repeated the same words he'd used the night of the dance. Macey who was sitting opposite me saw the strained look on my face which was hidden from Zach by the curtain of hair that I'd put between us when he sat down.

"Zach in case you hadn't noticed, you aren't exactly welcome at the moment, and considering the smarty pants spy wannabe that you are, you'd think you'd know that. Right?" I looked into her eyes and saw the frustration and anger there. If there was one thing that's I'd learnt about Macey of the past year, it was that she was not someone to take lightly when her friends were hurting. "Look McHenry, I don't really care at the moment how 'unwelcome' you say I am. I'm just trying to talk to Cammie," The food was being served and I wished that Zach would leave so that I could enjoy my breakfast in peace.

"Yes, I'm sure you do, but I really don't think that she wants to talk to you."  
"Don't think too hard there McHenry, you might hurt yourself."  
"Oh, witty, Goode, what else you got up your sleeve?"  
"Look I came over here to talk to Cammie, not to fight with you, now stop wasting my time."  
"Both of you stop it!" Hearing them fight over me had taken me to the end of my rope. "Zach, what are you doing here? I mean what are you _really_ doing here? You're not here just to talk to me, you want something, what is it?" I said fixing him with a glare that would've made the toughest of spies want to shit them selves.

"Look Cam, I know that you're angry, but please can we just talk? That's all, I swear." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying in vain to calm myself. When I opened my eyes again I answered him, "Look Zach, you've already ruined my breakfast and my morning, I'd rather that you not ruin my entire day as well which is exactly what is going to happen if we _talk_. So no, we can't just talk, I don't even want to see you again today so maybe it would be best if you just left me and my friends alone." And with that I stood and walked away, ignoring mom, Aunt Abby and Uncle Joe who I know where staring after me. As I left the dining hall I pulled out my phone and sent a text to mom;

_**Mom,  
when are we leaving for town?  
~C**_

I made my way down countless secret passage ways in an attempt to loose anyone who might be following me. I felt my phone vibrate in my hand and looked down seeing the screen light up.

_**When everyone's finished breakfast,  
maybe around ten.  
~Mom**_

_**Kay,  
Can I head into town early?  
I need to get some air  
~C**_

_**Yeah, sure sweetie,  
do you want me to send the girls down?  
~Mom**_

_**No,  
Just let them finish eating  
Try to keep them from killing anyone  
Are you coming to town?  
~C**_

_**No, I'm going to stay here,  
maybe get some paper work done.  
the girls are asking to go after you now  
~Mom**_

_**Tell them not too,  
It's not that I don't want to talk to them,  
I do, just not right now  
I need some time alone right now.  
~C**_

_**Kay, they'll arrive with the others,  
the bus should get to town around  
quarter past ten.  
~Mom**_

_**Alright, I'll see them then,  
I'm nearly in town now,  
I'll talk to you later,  
Luv you,  
~C**_

_**Love you too sweetie,"  
Be safe  
~Mom**_

As I walked through the town my stomach started to growl at me and I looked around for a diner or a fast food restaurant of some sort. You know some place to get food. I saw the diner that Josh and I had eaten at once when we were dating. I found a table and looked at the menu. I didn't have to wait long before a waitress came around to take my order. "Alright, so what'll it be?" Taking another glance at the menu before answering, "I'll have a…stack of pancakes, with two pieces of bacon, two sausages and two eggs." The waitress didn't even bat an eyelid at the amount of food I ordered, "Would you like anything to drink?" Looking down the list of drinks I decided on some pineapple juice. Once the waitress walked away with my order I sat back and tried to relax. Make a plan of action.

I barely noticed when the food arrived but just started to eat. "Cammie? Is that you?" I looked up hoping that I wouldn't see Zach. Instead I saw someone else, someone who I was a little bit more enthusiastic to see. "Hey Josh, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?" He laughed and sat down across from me. I was a little taken aback but let it slide. "I could ask you the same thing. But no seriously, we have a day off today. It's parent teacher interviews today and the kids get a free day. I was just coming in here to pick up some muffins for when I meet up with Deedee but I didn't expect to see you here. Don't you Gallagher Girls eat together or something?"

"Yeah usually, but you aren't the only one having something different happen at school. The boys are back in town."  
"What does that mean? You have the sudden urge to break out into song?" I laughed softly.  
"No, it means that the boys who were here last semester, well they're back. And they're not leaving anytime soon. Some of them might be staying for the whole year."  
"Well don't you sound less then thrilled. I thought you and that Zach guy were dating."  
"Yeah, well, it's not quite as simple as that anymore."  
"What do you mean it's not that simple? And you still haven't explained why you're here and not eating with your friends."  
"Well I decided to take a morning walk before I ate. I got hungry and I decided to just eat here. Everyone else will be getting her in a few hours. And well, Zach and I, are…taking a break." His eyes seemed to light up slightly at the news and I couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed at his sudden joy that Zach and I weren't dating. Not that we were anyways but still. "I'm sorry. Hey, would you like to hang out with Deedee and I until your friends get here? We were going to go see a movie then do some shopping." I thought about it for a second. I guess spending time with Josh and Deedee wouldn't be so bad. It was a better option then going back to the mansion and having to be around Zach's badgering.

* * *

An hour later I found my self entering the movie theatre with Deedee on one side and Josh on the other. We'd decided to watch Sherlock Holmes and I was glad. I'd been looking forward to seeing this. I'd been planning on watching it with the girls and they would probably be a little annoyed that I'd gone to see it without them but I could just go and see it with them again. I looked around checking for tails or danger of some sort. I saw a glimpse of brown hair and panicked for a moment. Zach wasn't supposed to be getting here for another few hours. On second glance I saw that his hair wasn't the right shade of brown and continued on into the theatre with Josh and DeeDee.

For the entire movie I felt as if I was being watched. Josh grabbed my hand and when I looked at him he asked me if there was something wrong. I told him that everything was fine and he seemed to accept my answer. The feeling of being watch only seemed to intense. I tired to relax and enjoy the movie but by the end I was even more jumpy then when the movie had started and I'd missed most of the movie.

"Cammie, are you okay? You were jumpy for the whole movie? Are you feeling okay?" I spun around to look at Deedee, putting up a mask of complete calm on my face. It seemed to work but they still looked a little worried. "No, no I'm fine. Must've just been the sugar in the coke." I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket for what must've been the hundredth time. I'd put my phone on vibrate when we got into the theatre and since then it had been going off constantly. This hadn't helped my edginess. Not one bit. Taking the phone from my pocket I checked the screen to see that it was an unknown number.

Without thinking I answered and instantly regretted it. "Cammie, thank God you're okay. We've been calling you for over an hour. Where were you?" Without answering I hung up and turned my phone off not bothering to check any of the other missed calls or numerous text messages I'd received.

"Don't really feel like talking?" Josh asked me after I'd hung up.  
"Not really." I answered shortly, sliding my phone into my pocket.  
"Who was it?"  
"Just some je-"  
"Cammie!"  
"-rk. Freaking hell, doesn't this guy _ever_ leave?" My jaw clenched and my hands formed tight fists. "Cammie, we've been looking everywhere for you, why didn't you pick up your phone? Where were you?" Zach was about to put his hand on my arm but I dodged it quickly and put some distance between us. "Where I was, is non of your business _Zachary,_" I sneered his name, forcing as much anger and hatred into his name as possible. My efforts weren't wasted as I saw him flinch and this made me do an internal happy dance. Though I didn't let it show on my face. "Cammie, can I talk to you privately?" I pretended to think it over for a minute before answering, even going so far as to put a finger on my chin. "Well, let me think about that for a second Zach...no!" I turned to say goodbye to Josh and Deedee but dumbass decided that he was going to put his hands on me. Wrong move.

With spy like reflexes I grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind back also reaching around to grab his other wrist and twisting that arm behind his back as well. When he tried to struggle I jerked his arms up. "I'm going to say this just once before I get really violent. Don't. Touch. Me. You. Self. Centered. Egotistical. Jerk." Then I pushed him forwards causing him to stumble a step and a half before he regained his balance. "Cammie please," I ignored his pleas and turned again to Josh and Deedee. "Look, I'm sorry to cut our bonding time short but I've got to go. Maybe I'll see the two of you around sometime." And without waiting for them to respond I just took off. Turned, walked away and blended into the crowd. I could hear someone yelling after me but ignored them and ducked into an alley way.

Checking that there was no one else there I stood behind a one of those big garbage bins and checked my phone, turning it back on. As I read the messages I realized that they were mostly the same thing, just from different people. The first few was them telling me that they were on their way and that I should text them too tell them where I was. A few after that were them asking where I was. Then after that the messages started to get urgent, panicked. And they weren't just from the girls either. Some how Zach had gotten my number and he'd used it to text and call me insesantly. I internally cursed the fact that I knew him at all. You're all probably thinking, 'But Cammie, you love Zach, the two of you are perfect for each other,' well guess what kiddies, this is were I tell you just how wrong you are.

Zach and I are not perfect for each other. I was actually interested in him, he was just using me. That hurts, and don't even question my right to be angry towards him. I have every right, he's a jerk. All of a sudden I felt some ones presence and before I knew it they were standing in front of me with their hands on the wall either side of my head. I had the sudden urge to knee him really hard in the balls. Although I'm not entirely sure how well that would've gone down. "Now Cammie, we are going to talk whether you like it or not. You need to listen to what I have to say other wise we're going to keep going in this endless circle until someone finally gives up," He leaned in closer till his mouth was at my ear, "and believe me, I'm not giving up on you, _ever_," they way he said it made it sound so final. As if no matter what he'd always be there. But something inside of me told me that he was lying. _Ignore that little part of you, it doesn't know what it's talking about._ You're back again? _Yes, look that little voice, we call her doubt, nasty little bitch. Tends to hold you back a lot. _Well then fine, what am I supposed to do? I'm trapped between a wall and a hot guy. _Try calling the girls for help, you're still holding your phone aren't you?_ The sarcasm was evident and I wanted to punch the voice in the face, unfortunately that would mean punching my self in the face and I really didn't feel like it just now.

Trying not to make it obvious as too what I was doing and moved my hand so that it was slightly hidden behind me leg. Pressing the end call button exited me from the message center and to the home screen. I pressed the button for touch screen and typed in Bex's number. "Zach, what are you doing? I thought I told you to leave me alone."  
"Well I just didn't feel like it, what can I say?"  
"Well you could start off with, 'Cammie I'm going to leave you alone now so that you can get on without your life with out my constant harassments,' how's that?" Before he could reply he was cut off by the sound of foot steps rushing down the alley towards us. "Cammie! There you are! We've been looking every where for you. We ran into Josh a few minutes ago and he-" Bex stopped short when she saw the position I was in; backed up against a wall, Zach practically pressed against me with his hands either side of my head and the panicked look in my eyes.

"Zach you have about three-point-five seconds to step away from Cammie before I break both your arms, got that?" She glared fiercely at him. Zach's confidence that he was in charge of the situation faltered for just a second and that was all it took for me to duck underneath his arm and to Bex's side. When I turned to look back at Zach, his arm was lifted slightly as if he was going to grab me and pull me back but had stopped. I noticed the pained look on his face and felt a stab of sympathy. "Cammie, please…" He trailed off. "Zach, just…leave me alone," I turned on my heel and stalked up the alley way towards the open, Bex at my side.

As we were about to walk across the street I heard Zach yell after me, "I meant what I said Cammie, I'm not giving up, not on you Gallagher Girl, not ever."

**Aww don't you just love Zach when he gets like that. I do it's sweet. I prefer him when he's cocky but having him be sweet is a nice refreshing change don't you think? Anyways, sorry for the wait, home hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I've bought Only the good Spy young but I've yet to read it so please don't ask if I'm going to include details from that book in this story. I haven't read it because I don't want to ruin the state of mind I currently have as I write this story. I'm not sure when the next update will be. Hopefully soon but I can't promise anything. I have the next chapter outlined though so don't worry about that.**

**So yes, hope you enjoyed this chapter, R&R**

**~Shadow**


	10. Karaoke Confessions Pt1

_**As we were about to walk across the street I heard Zach yell after me, "I meant what I said Cammie, I'm not giving up, not on you Gallagher Girl, not ever."**_

As we walked across the street I couldn't help but think about what Zach had said to me as we left.  
What the hell did he mean by he wasn't going to give up on me. _Just that dumb ass, he's not going to give up on you. No matter how much you push him away._ You know what I shouldn't bother fighting with you…_ Why because you know I'm right?_ No because there is absolutely no point in arguing with a** crazy person**! _I'm you smart one, so that means that if __**I'm**__ crazy then so are you._ This conversation is over.

I blocked out the tiny voice before it started to annoy the shit out of me again. That's when I realized that there was another voice that was trying to get my attention and was also becoming very agitated. "Cammie! Get your mind out of that alley-way and back to now." I grabbed Macey's wrist before her open palm made contact with my cheek. "Alright there was absolutely no reason for you to try and hit me."

"I'm sorry Cam, but where the hell were you? We've been trying to get answers out of you since we walked across the road, away from the alley way…and that douche bag. What happened back there?" I tried to think up something to say. Whether or not I should tell them what he'd said. I must've been lost in thought again because all of a sudden Bex had grabbed my arm to stop me in my tracks and told the others to go on. Once they'd moved a reasonable distance away were they wouldn't be able to hear what we were saying. "Cam, look…I heard what Zach said to you as we left the alley. And honey you really shouldn't think about it so much. We all have different opinions about Zach. Most of us think that he isn't worth the pain. The rest…think that he's worth the pain, the heartbreak because the two of you belong together, and that when you're hurting, he's hurting just as much."

I tried to hold back the tears welling in my eyes. "Sound like…you believe that he's worth it." Bex looked apologetic as she pulled me in for hug. "I'm sorry sweetie, it's just. I saw the look in Zach's eye when he had you pushed up against that wall. Sure there was a whole lot of lust but there was a lot more of something else too…love. And I, I honestly think that he loves you and that he's sorry for the things he said that day, that he had an ulterior motive for saying what he did. But hun, listen to me, I'm not saying that you should just take him back because to be _really_ honest with you, he doesn't deserve that. He may be worth the tears in the end but at the moment he doesn't deserve any special treatment from you. Not now."

I pulled back from her gripping her arms but not so tightly to leave bruises. "Then what exactly do you expect me to do? He's not going to leave me alone, I know that he won't, he's not the type of guy to give up on something if he sets his mind to it." Just thinking about him never leaving me alone gave me mixed feelings. The thought overjoyed me and scared me shitless at the same time. "Yes well I have a plan, which I will reveal to you and the girls once we're back at the mansion. You know, away from prying-lip-reading eyes." Then she starred at a point behind me, I looked at the reflection in a glass window behind her. In the reflection I saw him.

Zach.

He was staring back at me as if he knew that I was staring through the reflection back at him. I looked away and back at Bex. She took her hands from my shoulders and grabbed my hand, pulling me away from the crowds and towards the bus that would take us back to mansion. "Isn't it a little early to be heading back? We're not meant to be leaving until five."

"I know, but I asked Mr. Soloman if there would be any buses going back earlier for students who didn't want to spend the whole day in town. I knew that you and Zach would end up in some kind of altercation and I wanted to be sure that we'd have some kind of speedy escape route should things go terribly wrong. Anyways, he said that there would be a bus waiting for us when ever we needed it. He…also may have worried that something like this would happen."

"Isn't this a little bit unfair? He's giving me special treatment just because he's my god father. I'm sure there's something in the rule book about that." Bex looked at me as I'd suddenly lost my mind. And who knows? Maybe I had, and I just didn't know it yet. "Cam it's not special treatment and you know it. He's not giving you the answers to a test or letting you out of a punishment. He's taking care of you, just as he would any of the other girls if they were hurt."

"I'm not hurt Bex, Zach wouldn't have physically hurt me, he knows what would happen if he did."  
"You know what Cam?"  
"What?"  
"Just get in the damn bus so that we can get back." She meant it seriously but said it with a laugh and a smile, gently pushing me into the bus. I laughed and took my seat. The seats around me were filled with Macey, Liz and Bex as well and a few of the other girls who had been on the Mall Mission with us. Uncle Joe was in the driver's seat and when I entered the bus he turned around to look at me. His face was stone and to the normal observer his eyes would appear uncaring but to me they didn't. They were full of worry but before he could ask me if I was okay, I smiled reassuringly and nodded.

Understanding he turned back around and waited for the last of the girls coming home early to climb on board before he shut the door and drove back to our home away from home.

"Alright so this is what we're going to do," and Bex went on to explain the plan. We'd already checked the bedroom and bathroom for bugs as well as the hallway. Now we were sitting on the floor between my bed and Macey's. When Bex finished explaining we all sat there in shock for a minute. "Um, Bex I really don't think that that would be a good idea."  
"Why Cammie, it's perfect. You'll get the point across without actually giving to confront him which would give him the opportunity to corner you."  
"Thank you Liz…but no, I can't sing. Not even when no ones watching."  
"Alright Cam, that's a lie and a half. I hear you singing all the time when you're listening to you iPod. You probably don't even realize that you're doing it because when ever we look at you, you always look confused as hell."  
"Alright then Mace, maybe I do sing sometimes, but what I meant was that I can't _sing_ musically, not physically. I'm not _good_ at singing."  
"Again you're lying. Or maybe you're not lying and you're just wrong."  
"Look, Bex, I really appreciate what you're trying to do but isn't there something else we can do? Something else to give him hell."

"Oh my God, Cam! That's it, that's another song that you can sing."  
"What are you talking about Liz?"  
"Gives You Hell, it's by The All American Rejects. You'll understand when you listen to it, but it's about a guy who's girlfriend cheated on him and he hopes that when ever she thinks about him, sees him or walks by him that it gives her hell. We can change some of the lyrics so that it applies to a guy instead of a girl."  
"Oh Liz that's perfect. I was thinking of having her sing that song by Demi Lovato…umm _Don't Forget_."

It was like I wasn't even needed in this conversation anymore. I leaned against my bed post and closed my eyes, hoping to have a nap while they finished coming up with my song list. No matter how much I fought against this plan I knew that it was a losing fight. They'd strip me down, shower me, then re-dress me themselves if I didn't co-operate. We'd all feel extremely awkward but they'd still do it.

"Alright Cammie, we've got three songs that you can sing. We'll probably have more by tonight but for the moment I want you start practicing. Here's my iPod I've created a playlist called 'Cammie's Songlist'. The lyrics are there for each song, read them while you listen, it'll help you memorize." Macey handed me her iPod before moving off towards my wardrobe, probably to get an outfit ready for tonight. Tucking the iPod into my pocket I left the room and headed down the hallway till I reached a passageway hidden by a wall hanging. I pushed the hanging aside and stepped through, before it could fall back though, something grabbed my arm and pulled me back out of the passageway.

Reacting on instinct I grabbed the wrist of the hand holding my arm and pressed on the nerve, jerking the arm around behind their back I pushed my attacker into the wall, their face turned so their nose didn't break. Spinning them around I put my other arm to their throat and pushed them to the wall again, their back connecting with the stone this time. I kept pressure on their throat and looked up at their face. That's when I knew who it was. "Zach, what the hell are you doing?" I took pressure off to allow him to talk. "Cammie, I wanted to talk to you," I pursed my lips in mock thought for a moment. "Hmm, yeah not good enough. I told you too leave me alone. I want nothing to do with you." I tried to control all the tell tale signs that I was lying; pupils changing size, pulse quickening. The look in his eyes said that he didn't believe me, but I didn't need him to believe me right now, I'd worry about that later, for now all I need is for him to leave me alone.

"Cammie, if you really believe that then –"  
"Then what, Zach?" I cut him off. It was more of a threat, an 'I dare you to finish that sentence,'  
"You know you look beautiful when you're angry." My anger dimmed slightly before flaring up again with a vengeance. I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him forward and he came away from the wall willingly enough, probably thought that I was going to kiss him. Stupid. He realized his mistake when I slammed him back against the wall, my arm was still at his throat and his head banged against the stone wall behind him. His face scrunched in pain and his eyes close instinctively. "Leave me alone Zach. Just leave me the hell alone." Without waiting for him to open his eyes or even reply I ducked back behind the wall hanging and down the passageway. There was an alcove in the wall. Practically invisible in the dark, even with a torch it's nearly impossible to see. I ducked into it, pushing my back flat against the wall.

Listening carefully I heard the curtain being pushed aside and the almost silent sound of footsteps running down the passageway. I held my breath as he ran past my hiding place, not daring to breath incase he heard me and stopped. If he did then I'd be trapped in this alcove. I was fast and got the upper hand before but he would be prepared this time. He _let_ me get the upper hand, he'd wanted me to do what I did. I waited until I was at least somewhat sure that Zach was gone before exiting the alcove and heading back the way I came. I couldn't go practice where I had been first planning too, there was too much risk that Zach would find me.

Less then ten minutes later I found myself up in the pigeon tower. Locking the door behind me I scanned the room. There were empty bird cages scattered around the edge of the room. Taking the iPod from my pocket I tapped the screen and the iPod came to life. Going to the playlist screen I found the one with my name on it and tapped, the first three songs were _**Don't Forget, Gives You Hell**__, _and _**Here We Go Again**__. _After listening to all three of them once through I decided that the two Demi Lovato songs didn't really send the message that I wanted. They were more about how much this girl loved her guy no matter how much she tried to get him out of her head. I wanted to make him feel like crap, not tell him how much I loved him. Not that I do.

_Of course not, we can't have little Cammie Morgan falling for big bad Zachary Goode now can we? That just wouldn't be right. _You know what? You need to be quite now. Blocking out the little voice I searched through Macey's iPod until I found a Ke$ha song _Kiss and Tell,_ which I liked, and _Raise Your Glass _by Pink. It didn't fit with the other two but I thought that if I had to sing at this karaoke night I might as well sing a song for me and my girls as well. After adding the two new songs to the playlist I started to learn them, for whatever reason Macey had the lyrics included for every song for which I was grateful. She was right when she said that reading the words while listening to the song helped to memorize the words.

Hours passed without me realizing. By the time I looked at the time again three hours had passed, it was past lunch time and I was hungry. I decided to sneak down to the kitchen and grab some food, that way I could avoid Zach if he was in the dining hall. There were a series of passageways which I could take that would throw even an experienced spy of my trail but I chose the most direct route to the kitchen on account of my stomach was now roaring at me. Once there I greeted the Head Chef who offered me a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen. We chatted for a bit while he put together an amazing chicken sandwich and some cookies. Most of the school was still in town and wouldn't be back until just before dinner so Chef didn't have much to do for lunch. He set a few things out for those who were back and wanted something to eat but it was basic. No need to throw together a grand feast for only a handful of people.

While I ate he started getting things prepared for dinner and we talked. We chatted about what he did over his summer break (competed and won an international televised cooking competition) the new improvements to the school, and also our new students. He warned me about a few of the boys who he'd seen causing trouble and appreciated that he was looking out for me even though he knew that he didn't have too. I may be the headmistress' daughter but none of the staff were under any obligation to look out for me so when they did it meant they cared. By the time I noticed the time again two more hours had passed and the rest of the students would be returning in another hour or two. Bidding goodbye to Chef I left the kitchen, again through the secret passageway and went from passageway to hallway, going back and forth until I finally got back to my room.

I'd been listening to the iPod as I made my way back to the room, learning the songs and being sure of the words, singing along in my head. When I opened the door to my room I saw something that I really wasn't expecting…

…..

…..

…

.

…

…..

….

Zach.

Alright, no it wasn't seeing Zach that surprised me. Actually it was more something that I was expecting, seeing Zach, I'd actually been expecting for him to pop up when I was walking back here. It was that he was in our room, and my friends _weren't_ ripping him limb from limb. And I know that Macey really wanted too. Bex was mad but she still thought that we should be together, and Liz…well I wasn't really sure of where Liz stood on the subject. But whereas I didn't know where Liz stood, I sure as well knew where I stand. And I stand on the side of throw him out the window and deal with the consequences later. However instead of following that course of action I slammed to door loudly, making everyone in the room jump in surprise.

They'd all had their backs to the door and so hadn't seen me come in, they should've heard me but I guessed that they were too involved in their conversation with Zach. _Alright, that just ain't cool. They're supposed to me on our side, not conversing with the enemy._ Calm down there tiger. Why don't we find out what's going on before we jump to conclusions.

"Why are you here Zach?" My friends and the person in question stood there staring at me. They knew that they'd been caught doing…what ever it was that they were doing. And they were in trouble now. "I wanted to talk to you. When you weren't here I decided to wait until you got back and we all got talking." I glared at my friends, why hadn't they kicked him out? God only knows how many bugs he's planted without them noticing. I'm not saying that they're bad spy, hell no, they're some of the best in our year, hell our school but Zach is sneaky. _Once he'd gone you sweep the room, check for anything suspicious._ Good idea 99.

"I told you to stay away from me Zach, multiple times." I kept my face blank, making sure to not show any emotion, and not letting my tone give away anything but anger. "And I told _you_ that I wasn't going to give up on you." He took a step towards me and I took a step back, we continued this until my back was against the door. I looked to my friends for help but they just stood there. Zach was now right in front of me. So close that if I reached out I could touch him. He took another small step forwards and brought his mouth to my ear. I was frozen, not knowing what to do.

"I'm not going to give up. Ever. I promise you that." He took something from his back pocket and pressed it into my hand, "Read this once I'm gone. Please." He begged me. I wasn't going to promise him anything. He didn't deserve it. Not now. I averted my eyes and looked towards the bathroom door. I heard Zach sigh in front of me and before I knew what was happening he'd leant forward and pressed a kiss to my forehead. He pulled me away from the door, but not into his arms like I'd expected he would. "Till later Gallagher Girl," then not daring to stay longer I'm guessing, he ducked out the door, closing it again behind him.

No one said a word. No one even moved for exactly one minute and 45 seconds. I didn't understand what was going on, all I knew was that my friends had been talking to Zach and I didn't know what about. I trusted my friends, but Zach was another matter. He was sly, deceiving and sneaky. He could get info out of almost anyone without them realizing. Who's to say that he didn't try to get information out of my friends?

"Cammie, look, nothing was going on. He seriously just came up here to talk to you then when you weren't here he wanted to stay and wait for you. We tried to get him to leave but he wasn't going anywhere." Liz tried to reassure me, but it wasn't working. "What were you talking about when I got here?" Their eyes looked anywhere but at me. "Guys stop making it seem worse then it is." Macey stopped and took a deep breath before continuing. "We were talking about you. He wanted to know if you still had any feelings for him aside from anger. He used to be sure that you did but he's starting to doubt himself. We didn't tell him anything, I promise. "

How can Zach doubt himself? How can someone like him doubt himself? "Thank you, I do believe you, it was just a bit of a shock to see him sitting here, talking to all of you, as if it was normal, as if he was just waiting for me to get back from classes, as if we were going to go for a walk or something. It just freaked me out, that's all." They all came over to me and threw their arms around me. I hugged them back tightly and we stood there for exactly one minute and fifty five seconds.

After disentangling myself from my friends, I started sweeping the room for bugs. I found three just sitting out in the open, one on the lamp shade by my bed, one on the windowsill another one on the headboard of my bed. They were there to throw us off. But I knew that the others would be better hidden. Unfortunately for Zach I'm not an idiot and neither are my friends. We all searched the room and came up with five more bugs.

One was in the bookshelf, hidden among the books, another was on the clock face, right in the center. The third one was on the lampshade by Macey's bed but it was better hidden then the one which had been on mine. The fourth one was on the door handle and the last one was attached to the back of the photo frame on my bed side table. "Now we can talk a little more freely. You know without them listening in." Then without waiting for them to…well do anything, I took the bugs to the bathroom and flushed them down the toilet. Going back into the main bedroom I faced my friends, "So when are we going to do this thing?"

**I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in so long. School let out a month ago for the summer but everything has been so busy, especially during the last few months of school. However I'm going to try and get back on the ball with my stories. When I'm in the mood to write the chapters then I'm going to write as many as I can get out, then post them, just not all at once. You may have noticed that this chapter is Karaoke Confessions Pt1 so yes this is going to be a Part 2. I just wanted to give you all a little something to work with here, tide you over till the next installment. Which is in progress by the way.**

**Shadow Wolf**


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